WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- The Williams College volleyball team (2-2) was able to bounce back from an injury riddled first weekend to win its home and conference opener against Hamilton Tuesday night. The Ephs only trailed once in three sets (25-14, 25-12, 25-15) and kept the Continentals off balance all night with an efficient offense and effective service game.
"We needed a night like this," said head coach Fran Vandermeer. "After a weekend of players scrambling to play new positions, the return of Melissa Pun and Emily Avis allowed us to settle down and run our offense."
Leading the Ephs on offense was sophomore setter Emily Avis, who posted 32 assists in just three sets. Sophomores Nicole Ballon-Landa (14 kills, 4 service aces) and Eleanor Levine (4 kills), and juniors Alisha Cahlan (6 kills, 9 digs) and Whitney Hitchcock (7 kills, 3 blocks) were instrumental in the Ephs getting and holding leads all night.
On defense, juniors Chelsea Kubal (14 digs) and Melissa Pun (6 digs) limited a Continental attack that did not hold its first lead until early in the third set.
"Our team needed to prove to ourselves that, no matter who was coming in to play us, that we could play Williams volleyball with the kind of heart that were used to playing with," said Vandermeer. "We did not have a lot of aces, but our service game kept them off balance and put them out of their system all night."
The Ephs now look forward to the Brandeis Invitational, which begins Friday night against Smith at 6 PM.
