WORCESTER, Mass. – The No. 14 ranked Wesleyan volleyball team played six sets and won them all in a pair of 3-0 sweeps on Saturday, defeating the host WPI and Plymouth State to improve to 6-0 on the season. This marks the fourth time in the last five years the Cardinals have opened a season with six straight wins.
Coming off a Friday night home opening sweep over Swarthmore, the Cardinals bussed to Worcester early Saturday morning and showed no signs of fatigue as Wesleyan hit .283 as a team while holding the Engineers to a .065 attack percentage in the 3-0 win. Set scores favored Wesleyan 25-22, 25-15, 25-21 in the win.
The Cardinals spread the ball around in the opening set against WPI as five Cardinals recorded at least two kills in that opening frame. Neither side led by more than two points in the first set until a late three-point unanswered scoring run for Wesleyan saw the Cardinals take a 21-18 lead. WPI countered back with a 4-1 run to tie the score at 22 apiece before Wesleyan won three straight points to take the opening set 25-22.
Wesleyan made quick work of the Engineers in the second set, needing just 23 swings as the Cardinals recorded four service aces and three blocks to take the second set by a 25-15 score line. The Cardinals went 9-for-23 on their swings in the set with just one attack error for a .348 attack percentage. Wesleyan took full advantage of a 11-2 run in the middle stages to open a double-digit point lead.
In a near mirror image to the first set, the two sides played a very even back-and-forth third set wherein neither team led by more than two points until a late 3-0 Wesleyan run made it 20-17 Cardinals. WPI got to within one point of the lead down the stretch but the Cardinals won four of the final five points to seal the sweep.
Mila Chan '28 led the Cardinals with nine kills to go along with 10 digs and two aces.
Katelyn Olin '27 finished with seven kills and four blocks while hitting .600.
India Clark '28 had five kills on 12 swings with no errors and
Paulina Marino-Bindi '27 had five kills with a .444 attack percentage.
Alexa Schnell '29 totaled 20 assists, three kills, and four digs.
Then in the afternoon, playing their third match in less than 18 hours, Wesleyan dominated a Plymouth State team that won the Little East Conference last season in a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-23, 25-12). Wesleyan hit .260 as a team with just seven errors on just 77 swings while Plymouth State hit .139 with 22 attack errors in the match.
Wesleyan made quick work of the first set, jumping out to a 15-3 lead before closing out a 25-14 win despite the Panthers recording more kills than the Cardinals (12-9). The second set was decided late in the frame as Plymouth State led 13-10 and later by a 20-18 margin, only to see Wesleyan use a 5-1 run to take a two-point lead down the stretch. Then after the score tied at 23-23,
Fiona LaCamera '27 slammed home a kill followed by an attack error from the Panthers that clinched the set.
The third set was all Wesleyan as the Cardinals went on an 8-0 run to turn a 9-7 lead into a 17-7 advantage. Plymouth State could only get to within an eight-point margin as the Cardinals finished with five unanswered points to win the third set by a 25-12 score.
Chan led the Cardinals again in kills with seven to go along with six digs.
Carly Grumet '28 and Clark both finished with five kills while LaCamera had four kills and four blocks.
Lucy Konisky '30 and Schnell tied for the team-lead with 11 assists while
Elliana Moreno '27 recorded a team-high 11 digs. As a team, Wesleyan recorded a season-high eight aces in the match.
Armed with an undefeated 6-0 record through six matches, the Cardinals return to Silloway Gym next weekend for the start of NESCAC play when Wesleyan plays host to Hamilton (Friday – 7 PM) and Middlebury (Saturday – 2 PM).
