Several NESCAC volleyball teams made the most of their last regular-season weekend, and once the dust cleared, shuffling in the middle of the league rankings made for some surprising tournament seeds.
Heading into the last weekend of the regular season, Tufts needed wins against both Hamilton and Williams to clinch a second-place seed in the NESCAC tournament. But the Jumbos split the two games, defeating Hamilton 3-0 but falling to frontrunner Williams 3-0, and opened the door for some last-second place-changing.
Unfortunately for the Jumbos, Amherst, Wesleyan and Conn. College each swept their two NESCAC weekend opponents, improving to 7-3 in the conference. The Tufts loss to Williams dropped the Jumbos into a four-way 7-3 deadlock that was broken by individual team records against the other three teams and overall season wins.
Following official tie-breaking procedure, Wesleyan placed second, Amherst third, Tufts fourth and Conn. College fifth, setting up the Jumbos' match-up with the Camels in the first round of the NESCAC tournament on Friday night.
"I don't think our team or our staff is happy about where we ended up being seeded," Tufts coach Cora Thompson said. "However, no matter what seed you are, you are going to have to play the best to be the best. We plan on playing hard no matter who we face."
While Thompson had every right to be less than thrilled as she watched a two-seed slip between her fingers, coaches around the NESCAC had slightly more positive views of the seedings.
"I'm pretty happy where we ended up," Conn. College coach Joshua Edmed said. "Looking at the beginning of the year, we came into the season with an extremely young team, and we didn't know how that would pan out. The girls came together pretty well. It's unfortunate that we got fifth, but we're happy to be where we are."
"I think going in as a second seed definitely gives you confidence," Wesleyan coach Gale Lackey said. "We changed the tie-breaking system this year, but we're definitely happy."
At 6 p.m. on Friday night, No. 1 Williams will play No. 8 Middlebury, and second-seeded Wesleyan will square off against No. 7 Bowdoin. Williams' domination of the conference this season gives the Ephs the immediate edge over Middlebury, and Wesleyan has already beaten Bowdoin once this season. Although Bowdoin has lost its last four matches, the Polar Bears ended the 2006 campaign just two wins shy of their best record in team history, which should make for an interesting match-up.
Following these two games, No. 3 Amherst will face off against No. 6 Trinity, while four-seed Tufts goes head-to-head with five-seed Conn. College at 8 p.m. While Amherst boasts the better overall season record, Trinity ended its season on a nine-game winning streak, including a NESCAC sweep this past weekend and a 3-2 upset win over the Lord Jeffs.
Tufts posted four more overall wins on the year than Conn. College, but both finished the year with the same 7-3 NESCAC record.
As the only team perfect at 10-0, Williams is the favorite heading into this weekend. But despite what the season records may show, NESCAC coaches tend to agree that the level of play in the conference this season has been competitive, giving every team in this tournament a legitimate shot at reaching the championship game.
"At least two good teams aren't going to get to play in the championship, and most of my NESCAC colleagues would probably agree," Lackey said. "You might want to kick the favor to Williams, being at home, but I don't see any team that's really way out there in front right now."
"10-0 isn't something we're hanging our hat on," Williams coach Fran Vandermeer said. "We're happy that we hung on and earned the right to host, but I think that every team that has a chance to win realizes that anything that's happened up to now is done. It's a whole different season."
As another hard-fought NESCAC regular season comes to an end, the most important part of the year is still on the horizon. A NESCAC championship will earn a team not only conference bragging rights, but also a ticket to represent the NESCAC in the NCAA Div. III volleyball tournament. And for several teams that fall short of the NESCAC title, the tournament offers a chance to showcase their best talent and impress the NCAA selection committee to secure an at-large bid.
Right now, however, there's no telling which team will hold the keys to NCAAs.
"I definitely think the competition is better than it's ever been," Vandermeer said. "I don't think we've ever had a year where the seventh or eighth seed could have been third or fourth. This year, you couldn't script it."
