NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – In their first action since suffering their first loss of the season, the No. 18 ranked Wesleyan volleyball team rebounded in a big way with a 3-1 triumph (25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-21) over Gallaudet on Friday night in the Bonnie May Invitational hosted by Smith College. Wesleyan improves to 4-1 this season while the Bison drop to 7-3.
In a rematch of a First Round match from the 2023 NCAA Tournament (won by the Cardinals in a 3-0 sweep), Wesleyan jumped out to a 2-0 set lead, winning the first two sets by margins of seven and eight points, respectively.
Sophie Corbeil '28 recorded four of her nine kills in the first set alone, while middles
Bianca Gonya '25 and
Fiona LaCamera '27 both recorded two kills on three attempts as Wesleyan hit .212 compared to .056 for the Bison in a 25-18 set win.
After a slow start, going without a kill in the first set,
Michelle Jorba '25 dominated the second set as the senior outside hitter landed nearly half of Wesleyan's kills in the set. Jorba recorded six kills with no errors on eight attempts, hitting .750 in the set, as Wesleyan's attack was at its best with a .323 attack percentage in the stanza. Gonya added two solo blocks as Wesleyan ripped off a 9-3 run late on in the set to close out a 25-17 win.
Gallaudet came fighting back in the third set as the Bison trailed 11-9 before going on a 11-2 run to take a 20-13 advantage and ultimately closing out a 25-19 set win. Wesleyan only had two attack errors on 32 attempts in the set, hitting .219, but the Bison recorded 15 kills on just four errors while adding four service aces.
Needing to stymie the Bison momentum, the Cardinals came out strong in the fourth set as the Cardinals took an early lead and stretched their advantage to as many as seven points with a 14-7 advantage. The Bison responded with a 5-0 run and got to within one point of the lead, but the Cardinals held off the late rally bid in a 25-21 match-clinching win.
Jorba again was the key player in the fourth as she recorded four kills on 11 attempts with no attack errors.
Siena Steines '28 added three kills on nine attempts and
Adrienne Nguyen '28 recorded eight of her 24 digs in the fourth set alone.
For the match, Jorba finished with 12 kills on a .310 attack percentage. Corbeil was one kill away from her first career double-double as she tallied nine kills and 13 digs. Gonya hit .545 with six kills and no errors on 11 attempts to go along with four total blocks (three solo). Steines went for six kills and nine digs while LaCamera had four kills and four total blocks.
Nguyen match her career-high with 21 digs to go along with nine assists.
Ella Blair '28 led the team with 16 assists, adding three kills.
Ali Landa '26 recorded a double-double with 14 assists and 11 digs.
The Cardinals are back in action with two afternoon matches on Saturday, first facing Middlebury in a non-conference match at Noon before taking on the host Smith at 2 PM.
