The Firedogs continued their outstanding play since their loss to Williams a month ago and have gone 10-1 during that span.
Amherst suffered a setback Saturday, however, as they dropped a NESCAC match to rival Middlebury 3-2 in a close match.
In fact, the Firedogs dropped more games over the weekend than they have all month.
Since The Student last went to press, the Firedogs went 5-1. They split their pair of NESCAC matches and swept their non-league matches. The Firedogs started the stretch with a sweep of an overmatched Colby squad. Amherst swept the Mules in a dominant fashion (25-9, 25-17, 25-21). The Firedogs have won eight straight against Colby since 2005 and weren’t ready to have a let down after a sweep against NESCAC foes Middlebury and Hamilton the previous weekend. The Mules were held to a -.030 hitting percentage for the match and Colby didn’t have a single player with double digit kills. Amherst played efficient offense behind the play of first years Maggie Danner and Nicole Gould who both had 12 kills on the match. Nicole Carter ’16 paced the offense with 32 assists.
The Firedogs continued their dominant play against struggling Simmons and Clark squads Oct. 19. Amherst continued their stellar defensive play by holding the Sharks and the Cougars to an average hitting percentage of .052 on the day. Amherst imposed their will on both squads as they swept both of their matches. Captain Lauren Antion ’15 and Danner led the way offensively for the Firedogs on the day as they posted 17 and 21 kills on the day respectively.
Following an impressive weekend of action, Amherst looked to continue their phenomenal play in the Hall of Fame Tournament at Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges.
The Firedogs started the weekend with a big win against a very talented Wellesley squad that entered the match at 23-3 riding a 12 match win streak.
However, Amherst wouldn’t let the Blue extend the streak to 13. After dropping the first game 25-23, the Firedogs fought back and rattled off three straight games for the victory (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-15). The match was a defensive struggle in which neither team was very effective offensively. The Jeffs hallmark defense came ready to play and held Wellesley to a .094 hitting percentage while tallying 13 blocks on the match. Kate Bres ’17 led the defensive effort, accounting for seven of the team’s blocks. The duo of Danner and Gould continued to be a dominant offensive force and accounted for 29 blocks combined on the match. Carter also contributed a game high 35 assists.
Following the big win Friday night the Firedogs looked to complete a season sweep of Middlebury, but fell short. In the process, Amherst’s win streak was stopped at nine matches. The match was a marathon and went into a fifth game before the Panthers eventually emerged victorious (21-25, 25-18, 28-30, 25-22, 11-15).
Danner, Gould and Antion led the Amherst offense with 18, 14 and 11 kills respectively. Carter continued her dominant play with 34 assists, 20 digs and nine blocks. Katie Warshaw ’16 continued her great defensive play with 22 digs on the match.
Amherst wouldn’t let the loss get them down as they played MIT to round out the weekend. The Engineers entered the match with a 19-9 record having beaten the Williams College Ephs earlier that day.
Danner and Gould led the offense again, each tallying 11 kills. Carter tallied another 35 assists on the match. The defense continued to dominate matches as they held MIT to a .148 hitting percentage and added 12 blocks to their season total.
The Firedogs head to Middletown, Conn. to take on the Cardinals in an important match for seeding in the NESCAC tournament. Amherst sits in third place and will look to win their match Friday and then Saturday against Trinity. At stake is a potential second place finish in regular season NESCAC play.
