MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In one of the most-captivating matches you'll see, between two perennial national powers, the No. 17 Wesleyan volleyball team outlasted No. 12 Ithaca in a five-set thriller on Friday night in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in Silloway Gymnasium.
 
Wesleyan (22-3) advances to the Regional Final (Sweet 16) for the fourth time in team history where they will take on a familiar foe in No. 7 Colby on Saturday at 5 PM from Silloway Gym, with a spot in the Elite 8 (NCAA Quarterfinal) on the line.
 
The match opened with a positive start for the Cardinals who led 9-5 in the early stages, but Ithaca used a 5-0 run to retake the lead. The two sides traded 3-0 runs before the Bombers rattled off four unanswered points to lead 20-16. Ithaca went up 24-20, only to see the Cardinals stave off three set points, before ultimately falling one shy as a Bomber block gave Ithaca the 25-23 first set win.
 
In dire need of a response, the Cardinals answered back with a 25-19 second set win to turn the match into a best-of-three. Ithaca never led in the second set, with Wesleyan leading on team defense and power hitting from Sophia Lindus '26 and Mila Chan '28 as the Cardinals evened the set score at one apiece. The Cardinals hit .297 in the second set with Lindus and Chan combining for nine of Wesleyan's 14 kills in the frame.
 
Wesleyan opened the third set with an 8-1 run, but Ithaca settled in and battled back to close the gap to 12-9. The Bombers drew closer to just a one-point deficit at 15-14 and trailed by one point on four more occasions down the stretch in the third set, but the Cardinals kept siding out including on the set-winning point as Ithaca's Wesley Slavin hit a serve into the net to hand the Cardinals a 25-23 win. Defense and serving proved crucial as Wesleyan won the third set despite hitting just .064, totaling 28 digs as a team while not recording a service error in the set, compared to four service errors from the Bombers.
 
Ithaca dug in in the fourth set, leading 9-4 and 13-7 in the early going. Ithaca continued to lead by a sizeable margin at 17-12 before Wesleyan went on a 4-0 run to close the gap to one, only to see Ithaca get to a 22-18 lead. In the face of the Bombers' momentum, the Cardinals gutted out a 6-1 run, getting two service aces from Elliana Moreno '27 followed by an Alexa Schnell '29 ace that gave Wesleyan a match point at 24-23. Ithaca held off the Cardinals on that point as the two sides traded blows with Wesleyan looking to serve out the match two more times, only to see Ithaca come up with a match-saving point. The Bombers finally closed out the marathon set at 30-28 on a kill from Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu, forcing a deciding fifth set.
 
The Bombers won the opening two points of the fifth set, only to see Lindus turn on the jets with four kills in a 6-0 Wesleyan run, giving the Cardinals an 8-3 lead as the teams traded ends. Ithaca used a 4-1 run to close the deficit down to 9-7, but the next 11 points saw the opposing team sideout, as neither team won consecutive points for the remainder of play. Siena Steines '28 bombed a kill to make it 10-7, followed by three straight Wesleyan points coming on Chan kills. With a 13-11 lead, it was the Cardinals' go-to hitter in Lindus who smashed a kill to give Wesleyan match point. Ithaca held off the Cardinals for the fourth time on a match point up to that stage, but the match ultimately came to an end on yet another Lindus kill to give Wesleyan a 15-12 match-clinching win.
 
The fifth set saw the Cardinals hit .385 as a team with 13 kills on 26 attempts, while Lindus went 6-for-10 with no errors on her swings and Chan went 4-for-7 with no errors as well.
 
Wesleyan was led by a historic Lindus performance as the senior recorded 26 kills and 22 digs while hitting .297 on 64 swings in the match. The 26 kills are the most by a Cardinal in an NCAA Tournament match in team history while her 22 digs are a career-high.
 
Chan showed out with 17 kills, her most in a single-match as a Cardinal, to go along with six service aces, three blocks, and 16 digs. Through two NCAA Tournament matches this weekend, Chan has 30 kills and 25 digs, providing crucial play while playing the full rotation for Wesleyan.
 
Keying the defense was Moreno who finished with 24 digs, five assists, and three service aces. Moreno had 10 digs in the third set alone as the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year saved one of her best performances this season for the big stage.
 
Fiona LaCamera '27 recorded two of her five kills in the decisive fifth set while she added six total blocks and seven digs to her match totals. Ali Landa '26 dished out 37 assists to go along with 10 digs while Schnell posted 19 assists, two aces, and nine digs.
 
Wesleyan is set to face the Mules on Saturday night with a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinal round on the line. The two sides met back on September 19 in a match the Cardinals won in four sets in Middletown.