BRUNSWICK, Maine -- After dropping the first two sets and trailing late in the third, the Amherst College volleyball team embarked on a furious come-from-behind effort to keep its season going with a five-set victory over Middlebury College on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship at Bowdoin College.
The fifth-seeded Mammoths (16-4) advance to play host Bowdoin, the top seed in the tournament, in the semifinals on Saturday, November 6, at 1 p.m. at Morrell Gymnasium with an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship awaiting the winner of the tournament.
The 21-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-8 victory over the fourth-seeded Panthers (20-5) reversed the result from the last time this tournament was played when Middlebury edged Amherst in five sets in the 2019 quarterfinals. This was the third straight five-set match between these teams after this year's regular-season match went the distance as well.
SET NOTES
- After dropping the first two sets, Middlebury was leading 22-20 in the third when back-to-back kills from Amherst senior Jamie Dailey tied the score and the Mammoths escaped elimination with a 4-1 run to take the third set by a 25-23 margin.
- The fourth set was evenly matched early but after the score was tied at 7-7, Amherst reeled off a 7-0 run on the serve of sophomore Carly Cooper. The Mammoths stretched the lead to 20-10 and held off the Panthers to take a 25-20 victory in the set.
- Middlebury opened the fifth set on a 4-1 run but the Mammoths responded with a 6-0 run on Dailey's serve and held the lead for the rest of the match, finishing off the 15-8 deciding set with back-to-back kills from Dailey. Amherst hit .500 in the final set.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Amherst totaled 67 kills in the match, the Mammoths' most in a match this season.
- Junior Caroline Tilton led the match with a career-best 23 kills and added 3 blocks.
- Dailey served up 4 aces as the Mammoths held a 9-5 lead in aces. The NESCAC leader at 3.92 kills per set, Dailey added 18 kills and a career-high 35 digs.
- Senior Sophie Launsbach tallied 12 kills to just 1 error, boosting her NESCAC-leading hitting percentage to .462 this season.
- Cooper notched a career-best 49 assists, including assists on 10 of the 15 points in the decisive fifth set.
AROUND THE TOURNAMENT
- The other three quarterfinal matches all saw the favorites win in straight sets. Top-seeded Bowdoin defeated Hamilton, second-seeded Wesleyan beat Connecticut College and third-seeded Tufts dispatched Williams.
- Wesleyan and Tufts will face off in the other semifinal match tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.