For Immediate Release
October 6, 2007
Wellesley Sports Information
Courtesy of Vassar Sports Information
Wellesley Volleyball Advances to Seven Sisters Championships
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 6, 2007) -- With two victories each in Saturday's first round action, Vassar and Wellesley will play for the Championship of the 25th annual Seven Sisters Championship being hosted by Vassar. The Brewers defeated both Mount Holyoke 3-0 (30-20, 30-26, 30-16) and Bryn Mawr 3-0 (30-18, 30-17, 30-24) to reach Sunday's championship match. Wellesley won both their matches by 3-0 scores as well, defeating Elms 30-10, 30-16, 30-11 and Smith 30-26, 30-24, 30-15. With one win each, Smith and Bryn Mawr will play in the Third Place game while Elms and Mount Holyoke, who finished 0-2, will play in the 5th Place Match. Those matches will begin at 10:00 am, with the championship at Noon.
Match 1: Smith def. Elms
30-12, 30-15, 30-16
Smith College made quick work of Elms, winning convincing in three straight. In each of the three games, the Pioneers jumped out to big leads and were never challenged. Smith was able to win the long rallies and capitalized on Elms miscues throughout. The first game started with a 13-3 Smith lead continued to escalate from that juncture. Although Smith jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the second game, it was the most competitive match of the three. Elms narrowed a Smith lead to 13-10 and twice got within four points at 14-10 and 17-3. Each time, Smith answered with a big run to close out the game. The closest Elms came was 17-13. The third and decisive game started out tightly, with Smith ahead 8-6 and 15-11, but like each of the previous two games, pulled away with aggressive attacking. Smith was led by Bettany Weiss (Windham, MA) with nine kills, eight from Catherine Shafer (Red Bluf, CA) and Laurie Belton (San Bernadino, CA) with six. Rachel Lackert (Cold Spring Harbor, NY) had eight digs and Shafer chipped in with seven. Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN) had 18 assists and Belton had seven. Elms got five kills from Amandad Konsewicz (Westfield, MA).
Match 2: Vassar def. Mount Holyoke
30-20, 30-26, 30-16
In the opening round of the 2007 Seven Sisters Tournament at the Athletics & Fitness Center, the Vassar College women's volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 victory over Mount Holyoke College.
Mount Holyoke kept the first two games relatively close, capitalizing on a number of runs that forced Vassar to apply more offensive pressure. In the second game, Vassar jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, with senior Amanda Hsiung (Takoma Park, MD/Blair) serving up a pair of aces. The Brewers looked as if they might run away with the game when they took a 20-11 lead, but Mount Holyoke came back to tie it up at 26-26 before surrendering the last four points to drop the second game, 30-26.
The first game featured six ties before the hosts took control courtesy of a kill from sophomore Caitlin Ly (Chicago, IL/Clayton) to tie the game at 12-12. Vassar then reeled off an 18-8 run to win the opener 30-20. In the third and final game, the Brewers dominated, getting great play from sophomore hitter Tess Johnson (Henderson, NV/Green Valley), and took the match with a 30-16 decision.
Mount Holyoke got a great performance out of sophomore Kendall Burns (Houston, TX/Bellaire), who turned in 12 kills and 17 digs. Senior Rachel West (St. Paul, MN/Central) also contributed 29 assists in the contest. Ly finished with 14 kills to lead the Brewers, while Johnson and Cat Foley (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) each had 13. Hsiung added 5 service aces and 21 digs.
Match 3: Wellesley def. Elms
30-10, 30-16, 30-11
In the opening game of the match, Wellesley immediately set the tone as the more powerful team, jumping out to a 5-0 lead from which they would not look back. The Blazers were not able to put together a run, as they did not string together consecutive points once in the match. Wellesley put together a 9-0 run behind service of Lauren Rasmussen (Bonita, CA/Bonita Vista) to take a 21-5 lead and take firm control of the first game, en route to a 30-10 win.
The second game, though closer, was also all Wellesley. The Blue opened the game with a 4-1 lead, and though the young Blazers put together a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 13-7, they would get no closer for the rest of the game, which Wellesley won 30-16. Elms found some momentum and started the third game of the match off with a 5-0 run behind service of Amanda Konsewicz (Westfield, MA/Westfield). But the powerful Wellesley offense and costly Elms errors proved too much to overcome, as the Blue went on to tie the game at 6 and follow with a 10-0 run to take the final game of the match, 30-11.
Tracy Waldman (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) and and Arcadia Payne (Durango, CO/Durango) paced Wellesley with 8 aand 7 kills respectively. Victoria Peng led Wellesley with 15 assists. Billie Briones (Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley) and Victoria Peng (Diamond Bar, CA/Diamond Bar) had 14 and 15 assists respectively. Lauren Rasmussen (Bonita, CA/Bonita Vita) has seven aces. For Elms, Jeanette Nuñez (Canovanas, Puerto Rico/Colegio Maria Auxiliadora) had 4 kills. Kim Phillips chipped in 6 digs.
Match 4: Byrn Mawr def. Mount Holyoke
30-20, 30-20, 30-26
The Bryn Mawr Owls took on Mount Holyoke College this afternoon with the advantage of having fresh legs in their first game of the Seven Sisters Tournament, and came away with a 3-0 victory. The Owls sealed the deal in the third and final game despite a number of threats from Mount Holyoke, who managed to tie the score at 21-21 courtesy of a well-executed kill by sophomore Teresa Campbell (Williamsburg, VA/Bruton). But Bryn Mawr took a 29-26 lead for game point off of a kill by Julia Harris (Newbury Park, CA/Newbury Park), and won with a 30-26 decision.
The Owls largely dominated in the first and second games. In the opener, Mount Holyoke started it off with a 7-7 tie but Bryn Mawr soon distanced themselves, as they established an 18-11 cushion before coasting to a 30-20 advantage. In the following game, Bryn Mawr jumped to a 15-6 start and never looked back, winning 30-20.
The Owls got a game-high 21 kills as well as 4 blocks from Harris, and Elizabeth Sinclaire (Idialantic, FL/Eau Gallie) included 14 digs and 9 kills of her own. Freshman Emma Wisniewski-Barker (Newark, DE/Tatnall) also added 39 assists and 13 digs.
For Mount Holyoke, Chelsea Tracy (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands/Antilles) and Campbell had 8 and 6 kills, respectively. Both Kathryne Schwartz (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) and Rachel West (St. Paul, MN/Central) had 13 digs.
Match 5: Wellesley def. Smith
30-26, 30-24, 30-15
The Blue earned a trip to the finals with a convincing 3-0 (30-24, 20-26, 30-15) victory over the Smith College Pioneers Saturday afternoon, improving them to 2-0 in the tournament so far.
In the first game of the match, it was Smith who jumped out to the early 7-2 lead. But Wellesley fought back to tie the game at 15. From that point, there were several lead changes until Wellesley was able to take a 28-25 lead en route to a 30-26 win. The majority of the second game was also nip and tuck. The teams seemed evenly matched, trading points until the game was tied at 24. But the Blue went on a 6-0 run to earn the 30-24 win. In the final game of the match, the Pioneers seemed to lose steam. Wellesley started the game strongly to take a 10-5 lead, and they would not look back, winning 30-15.
For Wellesley, Murielle Dawdy (Larkspur, CA/Redwood) had 12 kills, and Alice Cummings (Tallahassee, FL/Lawton Chiles) had 8 kills and 18 digs. Emily Peters (Temescal Valley, CA/Villa Parks) also had 17 digs. Victoria Peng (Diamond Bar, CA/Diamond Bar) and Billie Briones (Sonoma, CA/Sonoma Valley) had 20 and 17 assists respectively. Tracy Waldman (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) added Blue with 4 blocks. For Smith, Bethany Weiss (Windham, NH/Salem) and Courtney Parker (Berlin, MD/Stephen Decatur) each had 6 kills. Digs leaders were Brianne Conizzo (Demarest, NJ/Northern Valley) with 17 and Catherine Shafer (Red Bluff, CA/Red Bluff) with 11. Mikal Minerich (Hobart, IN/River Forest) had 11 assists, and Lauren Martinez (Phoenix, AZ/Cortez) had 9.
Match 6: Vassar def. Bryn Mawr
30-18, 30-17, 30-24
n their final game on Saturday, The Brewers coasted to a convincing win over a 6-5 Bryn Mawr team coming off a loss to Mount Holyoke earlier in the day. The first game of the match started off close, with the teams trading points until a Sarah Potts (Bellevue, WA/Newport) kill tied the game at 14. The Owls scored the next three points until Vassar was able to string together a 15-0 run behind the service of Chelsea Mottern (Bound Brook, NJ/Rutgers Prep) to take a 29-17 lead before winning the game 30-18. Mottern had three aces during the stretch.
The second game also started close, as Vassar clung to a tight lead until going on a 5-0 run to take control, 19-12. The Owls responded with a 3-0 run of their own, but were not able to claw back, as Vassar’s powerful offense was too much to handle. The Brewers had 20 kills in the game.
In the final game of the match, it was Bryn Mawr who had Vassar playing from behind. The Brewers, however, were able to catch up and took their first lead of the game, 17-16, off of a Bryn Mawr error. The teams traded leads for the rest of the game until Vassar went on a 4-0 run to finish off a 30-24 win.
Vassar was led by Cat Foley (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa), who had 14 kills and a .500 kills percentage. Alia Al-Khatib (Port Charlotte, FL/Choate Rosemary) and Tess Johnson (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) added 12 kills apiece. Jasmin Iskandar (San Dimas, CA/Vivian Webb) led Vassar with 11 digs, and Amanda Hsiung (Takoma Park, MD/Blair) had 42 assists. Mottern and Yevgeniya Sergeyenko (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn Technical) each had 4 aces off the bench. For Bryn Mawr, Julia Harris (Newbury Park, CA/Newbury Park) had 11 kills, Ashton Shaffer (Chesapeake, VA/Greenbrier Christian) had 13 digs, and Emma Wisniewski-Barker (Newark, DE/Tatnall) had 23 assists.