Lady Jays Bounced From Tournament by Middlebury

SPRINGFIELD, MA - In the first match of the day, the third-seeded Middlebury College women's volleyball team cruised to a three-game sweep over sixth-seeded NYU-Poly in a quarterfinal match of the 2010 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Springfield, Mass. Regional Championship.

The Panthers notched their first-ever NCAA Tournament win by virtue of a 25-12, 25-15, 25-13 sweep of the Blue Jays. Middlebury (25-5) advances to a second-round match-up on Saturday, where they will take on the winner of the UMass-Boston/Maine Maritime match at 3:30 pm.

Middlebury was led by freshman Megan Jarchow (Cos Cob, Conn.) with nine kills and a .300 hitting percentage. She also had four digs and one block solo. Sophomore Julia Gibbs (Houston, Tex.) was right behind Jarchow with eight kills and a .353 hitting percentage. She also had a match-high five service aces and three blocks.

"I thought Julia had a very nice match overall," said Middlebury head coach Sarah Raunecker. "She was very sharp in many phases. It was a good team win. Defensively, we did fine. Our goal right now is to remain as sharp as we can be."

"Elissa (Goeke) also had good match," said Raunecker. "She was very consistent." In two games, Goeke, a junior from Chevy Chase, Md., had six kills with only one error in 12 swings. Her hitting percentage was .417.

NYU-Poly finished its season with an overall mark of 20-20 and a second straight Skyline Championship.

Said Head Coach Marc Solondz, "The first thing I want to mention is that it was good to be here (in the NCAA's) again. But I have to admit that I do not think we played as well as we could have. Credit goes to Middlebury, however. They are a very good team. We can't play such a good and capable team like we did today, play like we did, and expect to win.

"We have a big class coming in next season," said Solondz. "I certainly hope to be back in the NCAA's once again."

As a team, Middlebury hit .231, while NYU-Polytechnic hit .031.

Senior setter Lauren Barrett (Medfield, Mass.) finished with 30 set assists for the Panthers. Sophomore Caitlin Barrett (Medfield, Mass.) finished with a match-high 15 digs.

The scores of each of the sets was 2-2 at one point. But in each case, Middlebury scored the fifth point, and never trailed from thereon. In the third game, Middlebury hit .458, committing only one error.

For NYU-Poly, senior Meredith Shipman (Sugarland, Tex.) had seven kills. Junior Victoria Kalvert (Missouri City, Tex.) also had seven kills.