Hartford, Conn. – A team cannot come much closer to pulling a playoff upset than the Trinity College volleyball team did tonight in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Quarterfinals at Williams College. Holding leads of 2-1 after three sets and 13-12 in the deciding fifth set, Trinity had the No. 2-seeded Bowdoin College Polar Bears on the brink of elimination, before yielding the final three points of the match for a heartbreaking 3-2 setback. Trinity, which took its final lead on an ace by sophomore RS Hunter Drews (Clifton Park, N.Y.), ends the year with a 15-12 record, while Bowdoin improves to 22-6. Bowdoin won the first and fourth sets, 25-15, and, 25-16, respectively, while Trinity took the second set, 25-17, and the third, 25-19. Bowdoin plays tonight's Amherst/Middlebury winner in the NESCAC Semifinals tomorrow.

With the opening set knotted at 4-4, the Polar Bears used a 5-0 spurt to take a 9-4 lead en route to a comfortable win. Katie Doherty played a huge role for the Polar Bears in the first set, tallying two aces to go along with her three kills and a block. The Bantams came back with a vengeance in the second set, going on an 8-1 run after dropping the first two points of the set. Sophomore MH Kate Giddens (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) racked up a pair of aces and a pair of kills to lift the Bantams to an early 8-3 lead. After splitting the next six points, the Bantams went on a back-breaking streak of five points to go ahead, 16-6, and put the second set just about out of reach. A beautiful dig by Giddens, leading to a kill by Drews assisted by freshman Randi Whitman (South Weymouth, Mass.) finished the set off in style.

In the highly-contested third set, the Polar Bears jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but Bantam senior tri-captain OH Hannah Brickley (Melrose, Mass.) took over from there. Brickley sparked on an 11-1 run, including six points in a row, teaming with senior tri-captain S setter Amy Hackett (Wallingford, Conn.) for a pair of kills before serving up three aces in a row later in the streak. The Polar Bears attempted a comeback late in the set after an inspiring dig made by senior libero Taylor Vail, but their late surge was halted by a pair of kills by Giddens to end the set. Bowdoin jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead thanks in large part to three kills by Jewett, before going on a 6-1 streak later in set four on its way to tying the match at 2-2.

The fifth set was a nail-biter. The Bantams came out strong with a diving dig by freshman L Kristen Cooprider (Hopkinton, Mass.) that allowed Hackett to assist Drews for a well-earned first point. The next point saw a gorgeous set by Hackett put away by Brickley to earn the Bantams a slim early lead. The Polar Bears quickly found their footing, as a pair of kills from Christy Jewett equalized the score. As the tiebreaker set progressed, the lead continued to be exchanged between the two teams. The Bantams went down, 8-5, but then a serve by Cooprider clipped the tape of the net and fell perfectly among the Polar Bears to ignite a 3-0, set-tying spurt. Drews' ace gave Trinity a 13-12 edge, but the Polar Bears turned the tables and won the final three points in a row.

Jewett led all scorers with 18 kills out of the 47 total from the Polar Bears, while Giddens led the Bantams with 14 of their 42 kills. Leech had 20 of the Polar Bears' 44 kills, and Hackett had 21 of the 40 made by the Bantams.