A valiant effort was made, yet not enough to take down Bowdoin

After a season full of strong wins, powerful opponents and a CUNYAC tournament win, the women's volleyball team made it to the first round of the NCAA matches where they made a valiant effort, but lost in the end to the Bowdoin Polar Bears.

The match took place at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass., at 3 p.m. on Nov. 11.

Baruch gained entry into the NCAA tournament and squared off against the the Bowdoin Polar Bears, after facing the rival Hunter Hawks in the CUNYAC tournament on Nov. 3., taking home the conference win.

The Bearcats played a strong game against the Polar Bears, taking control in the third set, but fell behind in the final set to lose 3-1.

The starters for Baruch brought their best to the match against a team who is ranked 25th in the nation, but were not able to overcome their raw talent.

Junior Lauren Hayden took the lead in kills, making 17 in total, followed by freshman Jessica Wu who brought in 13 kills.

Junior Melinda Santiago made an astounding 42 aces and also backed up the team's defensive effort by making 12 digs.

Sophomore Rebecca Peralta along with Wu also made 12 digs to bolster the team's defense, but senior and libero Posey Wilson came through for the night, making 19 digs.

"We made a few too many errors, but we did play a really good team," said Wilson.

"They tried to put a lot of pressure on us and it forced us to make those errors."

Head coach Allison Stack alluded to the fact that to beat Bowdoin the team would have really needed to pull together but "unfortunately everyone did not bring their A-game," said Stack.

 "We didn't play at the peak we are able to," added Stack.

The first set started off in favor of Bowdoin as they nabbed the first kill of the game.

After the first kill the teams engaged in a back and forth that led to the Polar Bears taking a four point lead at 10-6.

The match had high intensity at this point; both teams were rallying for points until Baruch nabbed three points in a row to tie the set at 11-11.

From this point though the tables turned as Bowdoin sprang to life, making four points off the foundering Bearcats.

Baruch then called a timeout to assess the situation.

At the end of the timeout the Polar Bears made a service error, but bounced back to push their lead over Baruch to six points at 14-20.

The Bearcats made a commendable effort to try and take the set back, bringing the score to 17-20, but ultimately lost the set when Wilson made a service error to end the set at 19-25.

The second set kicked off with each team scoring two points each in a cat-and-mouse style of play, until the set was tied at 5-5.

From here the Polar Bears broke free of the tie, scoring almost seven consecutive points to take a strong lead over the Bearcats.

Baruch stepped up their play to bring the match close at 14-21, but Bowdoin had their eyes on the prize and won the set at 14-25.

The women of Bowdoin were playing on a different frequency than the Bearcats, their passing and communication, plus height advantage led to them having a much smoother play.

"We haven't seen teams as good as them all season," said Wilson. "They're definitely on a different level than we are used to."

This set was going to either make or break the Bearcats; there was fierce a back and forth, which made this set Baruch's best of the night and also gave a glimmer of hope at winning the game.

The anxiety of the Bearcats showed when first six points of the third set were made by the Polar Bears.

Following this lead, the Bearcats fought back to raise their score, but it did not take effect until about halfway through the set where the Bearcats were able to even the playing field at 14-14.

The remainder of this set was a battle of wits as each team would tie, then take the lead and then lose it to the other team.

At 18-17 Baruch had just passed Bowdoin, and seeing their airtight play leaking the Polar Bears called a timeout to mull over the situation they found themselves in.

The Bearcats, who had been playing a commendable game thus far, were given a chance to take the set and they zeroed in on it.

In the final moments of the set Baruch played a stellar game to push the set into extra points, finally ending the set at a 27-25 with a kill from Peralta.

"We took one set from them, but it's hard to beat a team of that caliber," said Stack.

She went on to describe how normally when a team is down two sets like the Bearcats were they will roll over and allow the opponent to win, but her Bearcats held fast.

With renewed vigor, the Bearcats strode into the fourth set garnering two points right off the bat by a ball handling error and a kill from Hayden.

For the next few points the teams battled for the lead as one team would tie it up and then be overtaken.

This back and forth lasted until 8-8, it was then the beginning of the end for Baruch.

Bowdoin jumped into gear, landing six consecutive kills until Baruch called a timeout, which did nothing to stanch the Polar Bears as they gained two more kills after the timeout to put them at 8-16.

Baruch tried to close this massive gap, but played to no avail.

After pushing their score to 16 points Baruch lost the final point to the Polar Bears by way of an attack error on Hayden, putting the final set at 16-25.

"Unfortunately we couldn't keep up for the fourth set," said Stack. "When we play our A-game we can beat a team like that."

The season ended with a 24 wins and 11 losses. The men's volleyball team returns to action on Jan. 28 against Rutgers-Newarks.