MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – For the second straight season, the NESCAC Championship match will be played in Silloway Gymnasium as the top-seeded Wesleyan volleyball team hosts semifinal round action on Friday night before the title match on Saturday at 3 PM. The Cardinals open play this weekend at 5 PM on Friday, hosting the 10-seed Bowdoin in the semifinal round. The other semifinal will be contested no earlier than 7:30 PM on Friday as four-seed Tufts face six-seed Williams with the two winners advancing to Saturday's title match to be played in Middletown.
 
Making their sixth consecutive NESCAC semifinal appearance, Wesleyan (20-1) is in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history. The Cardinals are winners of nine straight matches and are undefeated at home in 2023 with an 8-0 record in Silloway. Wesleyan is coming off a sweep of eight-seed Amherst (25-23, 25-12, 25-18) on Sunday in a match where the Cardinals hit .342 as a team with five Cardinals going for 6+ kills while libero Bianca Ortiz '24 shined with 28 digs.
 
Awaiting the Cardinals in the semifinal round is a familiar foe in the Polar Bears, who the Cardinals snapped a four-match losing streak against during the regular season with a 3-1 triumph at home on October 14. Prior to that win, the Cardinals hadn't beaten Bowdoin since 2019, but Wesleyan is 4-0 against the Polar Bears in the last four meetings between the two sides in Middletown. The Cardinals hit .293 against Bowdoin in the regular season, including .459 with 20 kills on 37 attempts in the fourth set alone. Sophia Lindus '26 went for 21 kills and 13 digs in that match while Mariko Tanaka '24 had seven kills and four blocks, Maya Lopansri '25 totaled 41 assists and 12 digs, while Ortiz had 29 digs.
 
The Cardinals completed a perfect 10-0 record in NESCAC play for the first time in team history, earning six of their 10 league wins by three-set sweeps. Wesleyan leads the NESCAC in hitting percentage (.267) by a wide margin as the second-place team Middlebury is has nearly 100 more errors than the Cardinals' total this season. The Cardinals also lead the NESCAC in assists (12.05 per set), kills (13.32), blocks (2.58), opponent blocks (1.25) and opponent service aces (1.07).
 
Individual standouts litter the NESCAC leaderboard as well as Kathryn Morton '24 has a NESCAC-leading .358 attack percentage on the season while she is joined in the Top 10 by Kate Long '24 (.324) and Lindus (.306) who is the only outside hitter in the league to hit over .300. Morton also has a NESCAC-leading 1.03 blocks per set. Lindus leads the NESCAC in kills (4.17) and points (4.62) and Ortiz has the best digs average (6.03) in the NESCAC.
 
Advancing to the NESCAC semifinal round for six straight seasons now, the Cardinals are searching for their second NESCAC Championship, having won their first and only league title in 2017. Wesleyan has finished as the NESCAC runner-up each of the past two seasons, falling to top-seeded Bowdoin in 2021 and the second-seed Tufts in 2022.
 
SCOUTING BOWDOIN
 
The #10 seed Polar Bears are the lowest seed to advance to the NESCAC semifinals in league history. Bowdoin is making its 10^th semifinal appearance in the past 12 tournaments and are coming off an impressive weekend, having beaten seven-seed Hamilton on the road in four sets last Friday and then traveling to two-seed Colby on Sunday, landing a 3-1 win.
 
Peeking at the right time, Bowdoin is vying for their fifth conference crown in team history. Freshman Skye LaMendola ranks second in the NESCAC in kills (4.05) and is hitting .234 for the Polar Bears. Lauren Lange paces the Polar Bears on the attack, hitting .282, while senior setter Ella Haugen leads the NESCAC in assists per set (9.65) and has a team-best 34 aces. Bowdoin is 13-9 overall and have won five of their last six matches.
 
SCOUTING TUFTS
 
The Jumbos (14-9) are playing their best volleyball of late, going 8-2 over its last 10 matches with the two losses coming to nationally ranked foes MIT and Babson. Tufts defeated Trinity in four sets last Saturday to advance to the semifinal round. On the season, five Jumbos have 100+ kills while Rileigh Farragher leads the team with 210 on the season. Emma Heckman has 180 kills from the right side and sports a .256 attack percentage. Alina Qi sports a 0.99 blocks per set average, second-best in the NESCAC.
 
SCOUTING WILLIAMS
 
The Ephs (15-8) are coming off a thrilling five-set win at three-seed Middlebury last Sunday, earning an upset win to carry the six-seed Williams into the semifinal round. Williams opened the season with eight straight wins, before a midseason lull where the Ephs worked through a stretch where they went 4-8 including a time where they lost five of six matches. That midseason lull, however, is behind them as the Ephs are winners of three straight including a three-set sweep of Colby in the regular season finale before the two NESCAC Tournament wins last weekend. Celia Adams (248 kills), Marit Hoyem (234 kills, .314), and Keely Campuzano (215 kills, .268) form a heavy hitting trio on attack while Lauren Kauppila has been one of the best setters in the league all season, averaging 8.13 assists per set.