October 11, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rhemi Abrams-Fuller
(612) 730-1220
Vassar Wins Seven Sisters Volleyball Championship
Northampton, MA: Vassar went undefeated this weekend in capturing their 3rd Seven Sisters Tournament Championship. The Brewers won 9 straight sets against Elms College, Smith College, and defending tournament champion Wellesley College, whom Vassar lost to in the final round at the last Seven Sisters Tournament in 2007.
The first set started off with an impressive service ace from Wellesley's #8 Victoria Peng (Diamond Bar, CA; All-Tournament selection). This set the tone for the first portion of set 1, as Wellesley led by as much as 6 points in the early part of the game. However, Vassar finally found its fire and stormed back to tie the score at 9 points apiece. Set 1 would see 3 more ties before Vassar was finally able to put it away on a Wellesley net violation (25-20).
Set 2 was much the same, with 6 ties and 2 lead changes. Again, Vassar's hard hitting and strong blocking efforts were enough to overcome the scrappy style of defensive play from Wellesley. While the teams remained in close contention for the majority of the set, a streak of Wellesley errors late in the game proved costly, and they were not able to catch the Brewers in the final points of the match. Vassar's #12 Hilary Koenigs (Spokane, WA; All-Tournament selection) put a decisive end to set 2 with a monstrous block that rolled along the top of the net until finally settling on Wellesley's side to earn her team game point (25-21).
Set 3 proved to be the final set of the tournament, as Vassar opened up its largest lead in the match (10 points) in going on to win 25-15. While Vassar had an all-around solid performance, they shined at the net, tallying 9 team blocks over the course of their final match.
Vassar leaders in the match were #10 Amy Bavosa (Eastport, NY) with 9 kills, #7 Chloe McGuire (Davis, CA) with 11 digs, and #12 Hilary Koenigs with 25 assists and 10 digs. For Wellesley, #20 Elizabeth Campbell (Solona Beach, CA) and #10 Isabel Custodio (Powell, OH; All-Tournament selection) tallied 15 and 9 kills respectively, while #8 Victoria Peng had 22 assists and #2 Naomi Iwata (Seattle, WA) had 16 digs.
Smith v. Bryn Mawr
The #2 teams from each pool faced off in what would prove to be a very close 11:00AM match. Bryn Mawr would ultimately edge Smith College, winning 3 sets to 1.
The first set was indicative of how evenly matched these two teams really were, as it saw 10 ties and no more than a 3 point lead by either team. Smith's back row played excellent defense, but service errors late in the contest cost the Pioneers several valuable points. A well placed tip from Bryn Mawr ended the game with a tight score of 25-23.
Bryn Mawr would go on to take the 2nd set as well (25-19). However, Smith battled back in the third game. Despite being down 24-20, the Pioneers rallied to push 6 unanswered points in a stunning 26-24 victory.
Set 4 looked much like set 1, with 7 ties throughout the contest and never more than 4 points separating one team from the other. In the end, it was Bryn Mawr that captured the victory (25-22), though many did question the final call made by the officials to end the match.
Smith leaders were #12 Laurel Belton (San Bernadino, CA) with 15 kills and 12 digs and #14 Mikal Minarich (Hobart, IN; All-Tournament selection) with 9 kills and 12 digs. Additionally, # 9 Courtney Faria (Pocasset, MA) had 33 assists and a kill. On the other side, Bryn Mawr's #12 Katie Merrill (Sierra Madre, CA; All-Tournament selection) tallied 16 kills, 14 digs, and 9 solo blocks. #18 Mikecia Witherspoon (Philadelphia, PA) recorded 15 kills, while #5 Emily Takeuchi-Miller (Tucson, AZ) had 25 assists.
Elms v. Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke tallied their first match win of the weekend with a victory against their final opponent, Elms College. Final scores from the three sets were 25-23, 25-7, and 26-24. Mount Holyoke's #18 Rosa Marruffo (Tulsa, OK) led the match with 12 kills, while her teammates #8 Kateryna Kuc (New Haven, CT) and #16 Morgan Colley (Plymouth, MA) recorded 24 assists and 12 digs, respectively. For Elms, the statistical leaders were #1 Jen Rego (Fall River, MA) with 7 kills, #12 Melissa Clark (Chicopee, MA) with 23 digs, and #11 Kim Phillips (Randolph, MA) with 14 assists.
2009 Seven Sisters All-Tournament Team
#4 Katie Solook of Bryn Mawr College
#12 Katie Merrill of Bryn Mawr College
#8 Kateryna Kuc of Mount Holyoke College
#18 Rosa Marruffo of Mount Holyoke College
#5 Sarah Potts of Vassar College
#12 Hilary Koenigs of Vassar College
#8 Victoria Peng of Wellesley College
#10 Isabel Custodio of Wellesley College
#1 Lauren Martinez of Smith College
#14 Mikal Minarich of Smith College
Day 2 Set Scores
1 2 3
Vassar 25 25 25
Wellesley 20 21 15
1 2 3 4
Smith 23 19 26 22
Bryn Mawr 25 25 24 25
1 2 3
Elms 23 7 24
Mount Holyoke 25 25 26
Tournament Match Records
Vassar (3-0)
Wellesley (2-1)
Bryn Mawr (2-1)
Smith (1-2)
Mount Holyoke (1-2)
Elms (0-3)
Seven Sisters Volleyball Championship Notes
This weekend marked the 27th Seven Sisters Championship Tournament. It was decided several years ago that the tournament would only take place once every two years, so the next Seven Sisters Tournament is scheduled for the fall of 2011.
