CLINTON, N.Y. -- For the third consecutive time in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play, the Amherst College women's volleyball team has pushed their opponent to a fifth set, only to come up just short. The Mammoths saw a 2-1 lead slip away on Friday evening as they fell to Hamilton College 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 15-9) at Margaret Bundy Scott Field House.

With the setback, Amherst falls to 11-8 on the season and 2-5 in NESCAC play, while Hamilton improves to 9-5 and 5-3 in the conference. The Mammoths continue their weekend road swing on Saturday with a 1:00 PM game at Williams.

Charlotte Duran '20 set a new career high with 62 assists in the match, and Emily Kolsky '20 and Daria Kim-Percy '21 co-led all players with 17 kills apiece, a personal best for the first year Kim-Percy as well.

The Mammoths trailed 12-7 in the opening set, but a 6-0 run that included two kills apiece from Cameron Hendricks '20 and Claire Dennis '20 helped them climb back into the game. With the score tied again at 21, the Mammoths took advantage of four straight errors by the Continentals to put the game away.

It was a similar narrative in the second set, but this time the hosts capitalized on two errors and a service ace by Kyndal Burdin to claim the two point victory.

Hamilton opened the third set on a 4-0 run, but Amherst found their footing and used an 8-5 spurt with four kills from Kolsky to grab a 12-8 edge. Another 5-0 run put the game out of reach at 19-11 for the Mammoths and they put themselves on the cusp of a victory.

Amherst was unable to ice away the conference win, however, as Hamilton led from 5-4 on and extended their lead to 15-6 with a kill by Margaret O'Brien. Though Amherst would pull to within three points, at 20-17, it was the slimmest margin they would manage, with a kill by Courtney Brown and an Amherst attacking error sealing the set.

The hosts got off to a 6-2 lead in the fifth and deciding game, and Amherst managed to pull within one on two occasions, thanks to kills by Kolsky and Marialexa Natsis '18. Another Kolsky point made it 9-7 Hamilton, but the Continentals ran off five of the next six points, and a big block by Giuliana Rankin and O'Brien helped Hamilton seal the comeback win.

Match Notes

• Kosky's 17 kills were one shy of her personal best, which was set last time out against Clark, when she registered 18 kills in a four-set loss.
• Kim-Percy also recorded two service aces and a game-high 27 digs, another personal best for the first year player.
• Natsis added 13 kills and two blocks, while Dennis was also in double-digits with ten kills.