New London, Conn. - The Trinity College Bantams battled the Middlebury College Panthers through every set but suffered a 3-0 defeat in the opening round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Volleyball Championship Tournament this afternoon at Connecticut College's Luce Field House.  No. 7-seeded Trinity ends the 2012 season with a 12-11 record, while No. 2-seeded Middlebury advances to the semifinals and will play the No. 3-seeded Bowdoin College Polar Bears tomorrow.

Middlebury took the opening set by a tight 26-24 count, breaking a 24-24 tie with a kill by junior Megan Jarchow, then capturing the set when a Trinity attack went wide.  The score was even at 19-19 before Middlebury took a 22-19 lead with three straight points.  The Bantams responded with three points of their own to make it 22-22.  Kills by senior Julia Gibbs and Jarchow put Middlebury on the brink of victory at 24-22, but again Trinity rebounded with two points, the last on a kill by first-year MH Kate Giddens (Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.), for a 24-24 score.

Trinity got off to a 6-2 start in the second set, but a 12-5 Middlebury run spotted the Panthers a 14-11 margin.  The lead edged out to 19-14 before a 5-1 Trinity run narrowed the difference to a single point, 20-19.  Middlebury picked up four of the next six points for a 24-21 lead and finished off the 25-22 win on a kill by senior Madeline Firestone.  Middlebury controlled the tempo of the third set after Trinity scored the first two points.  A 7-1 Panther burst put Middlebury up 7-3, and the lead never fell below four points the remainder of the set.  The margin peaked at 17-9 before a kill from Jarchow closed out the 25-18 final set.

"We played great," said Trinity Head Coach Jen Bowman.  "Middlebury is one of the strongest teams in the region and we played them really well. With the exception of the third set, we were nearly point for point the entire first two sets.  I thought Hannah Brickley played a great game and as usual Dani Isaman and Kate Giddens had some big kills.  Both setters did a nice job running our offense, too.  We made some adjustments from our previous meeting with Middlebury and we gave ourselves a chance to win, but when you are playing a team as strong as they are, the room for error is quite small.  I was proud of our effort."

Trinity got a nine-kill effort from junior co-captain OH Hannah Brickley (Melrose, Mass.). Senior co-captain OH Danielle Isaman (Warrenton, Va.) was right behind with eight, followed by Giddens with seven. Assists were split evenly between junior Amy Hackett (Wallingford, Conn.) and first-year Gina Buzzelli (Cheshire, Conn.), both with 13. Brickley was tops in digs for the Bantams with 11. Isaman added 10.Jarchow finished with 10 kills for Middlebury while Gibbs led the way with 11.  First-year Kathryn Haderlein collected 31 assists to direct the Middlebury attack.  Senior libero Caitlin Barrett led Middlebury in digs with 14 while Haderlein added 13.

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