For Immediate Release
October 7, 2007
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Wins Seven Sisters Tournament; Dawdy Named MVP
Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 7, 2007) -- As they headed into the third game of the Seven Sisters Championship match with a 2-0 lead over Wellesley, the Vassar College women's volleyball team looked as if they might come away with their first tournament title since 1993. But Wellesley proved they were up for the challenge, as they came back to win the final three games on their way to collecting their tenth Seven Sisters title in the past twelve years.
Vassar lost its momentum in the third game, when Wellesley senior Murielle Dawdy (Larkspur, CA/Redwood), the Tournament MVP, sent a kill down the sideline to give her team the lead at 10-8. Wellesley then rounded out the game with a solid 20-12 run, and finished 30-20 as they headed into the fourth game.
The fourth game was all Wellesley, as they established an early 16-6 lead and stretched the gap to 17 points at 24-7. The Blue benefited from a great defensive effort by junior Emily Peters (Temescal Valley, CA/Villa Parks), who finished with 19 digs in the contest. In the fifth and final game, Vassar fell behind but tied it up at 6-6 when Alia Al-Khatib (Port Charlotte, FL/Choate Rosemary) sent a kill down the middle of the court. Wellesley then closed out the match and secured the Championship with a 15-12 decision.
Despite losing control of the match in the final three games, the Brewers fought hard throughout the first two, winning each by two points. They fell behind 20-13 in the first but fought back, reeling off a 13-6 run to tie the game at 26-26 when sophomore Tess Johnson (Henderson, NV/Green Valley) sent a kill over the net. Vassar closed out the game 30-28, and came back again in the following game to win 31-29 and carry a 2-0 lead into the third game, but the Blue took over from there.
Match 9: Wellesley def. Vassar
28-30, 29-31, 30-20, 30-14, 15-12
Vassar falls to 16-6 following the two-day tournament, and Wellesley is now 16-3.
Named to the All-Tournament Team was Julia Harris (Newbury Park, CA/Newbury Park) from Bryn Mawr College, Catherine Shafer (Red Bluff, CA/Red Bluff) from Smith College, Amanda Hsiung (Takoma Park, MD/Blair) and Al-Khatib from Vassar College, and Tracy Waldman (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) from Wellesley. Dawdy was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player.
