MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – On a night where the No. 10 ranked Wesleyan volleyball team celebrated its six-player senior class prior to the match, the Cardinals took care of business afterwards in a three-set sweep of Hamilton on Friday night from Silloway Gym. The Cardinals (7-0, 1-0 NESCAC) remain unbeaten while the Continentals (4-2, 0-1 NESCAC) see their three-match win streak halted in defeat.
The Cardinals started strong, hitting .324 in the opening set, their highest attack percentage in any of the three sets on the evening. Hamilton took an early 6-3 lead only to see Wesleyan cut into the deficit before landing three unanswered points followed by a 5-0 run that made it 20-12 Cardinals. Hamilton had a pair of 3-0 runs down the stretch but the gap was too much as Wesleyan finished off a 25-20 set win.
Carly Grumet '28 led the Cardinals with five kills in the first set.
Wesleyan held their nerve in the second set, as the Cardinals led 22-17 late in the frame before Hamilton used a 5-1 run to make it 23-22 Wesleyan. The Cardinals won the serve back thanks to a set error from Hamilton on the next point and won set point on a
Mila Chan '28 kill that sealed the 25-22 second set win. Wesleyan hit .290 in the second set as the tandem of
Siena Steines '28 (seven kills, .417 attack percentage) and Chan (four kills, .375) combined for 11 of the team's 14 total kills in the set.
The third set was back-and-forth for the first 20 points before Wesleyan used a 5-1 run to build a 15-11 lead. Hamilton would only get to within three points of Wesleyan's total for the remainder of the set as the Cardinals put the match away with a dominant 7-0 run including a match point kill from
Paulina Marino-Bindi '27 to complete a 25-15 set win. Steines added five more kills to her match total in the third set while Marino-Bindi had four of her career-high seven kills in the third set alone.
Steines led the way with 12 kills on 24 swings in just two sets played to go along with eight digs and two blocks. Chan finished with eight kills and a match-high 14 digs. Marino-Bindi added seven kills while
Lucy Konisky '30 posted 20 assists and five digs and
Alexa Schnell '29 finished with 18 assists and four digs.
Next up for the Cardinals is a Saturday afternoon showdown against Middlebury (9-1, 1-0 NESCAC) at 2 PM from Silloway Gym.
