Sports Shorts
Water Polo wins Easterns
The MIT men’s water polo team competed last weekend at the Division III Eastern Championship at Connecticut College. The Engineers, the fourth seed out of five teams at the tournament, defeated the first-seeded team from Johns Hopkins University 9-7 in the final to win the two-day tournament.
MIT began the tournament with a 18-4 win over Penn State, but then lost narrowly to Johns Hopkins, 14-13. In their third game on Saturday, however, they rebounded by beating host Connecticut College 13-3, earning them a spot in the championship game on Sunday against Johns Hopkins.
John V. Preis ’11 led MIT with nine goals and was named tournament MVP. Columbus P. Leonard ’12 and Brian C. Gardiner ’11 were also given first-team honors.
The Engineers return to action next weekend at the CPWA Northern Division Championship.
Volleyball sweeps WPI for Dill’s 400th win
Paul Dill, already the winningest coach in the history of the women’s volleyball program, picked up his 400th career victory following MIT’s 25-12, 25-17, 25-21 win over WPI on Tuesday night. The Engineers earned their fourth consecutive NEWMAC win as they improved to 6-2 in league play and 19-12 on the year.
MIT never trailed in the first two sets. In the third set, WPI jumped out early to a 6-1 lead, but the Engineers soon responded with a 12-3 run to seize the lead for good.
As a team, the Engineers had one of their best hitting performances of the season as they registered a .351 hitting percentage. Kelly E. Schulte ’12 posted eight kills on 15 errorless hitting attempts for a .533 hitting percentage, and Trinity P. Leonard ’13 notched a team-high nine kills to go along with two blocks
Quisenberry, Hsu named to All-Conference
Lauren Quisenberry ’14 was named NEWMAC Rookie of the Year and the NEWMAC athlete of the year, earning her the number one singles spot on the All-Conference First Team. Julia C. Hsu ’14, the Engineer’s number two singles player, earned a spot on the All-Conference second team. The honors were voted on by the eight women’s tennis coaches in the conference.
Quisenberry had a perfect season at first singles for the Engineers. She went 9-0 overall and 8-0 in NEWMAC matches, including a win in the conference tournament semifinals. In her eight conference victories, she never dropped a set and lost four games only once. Her season also included an upset over Tufts’ Julia Browne, the defending Division III national champion for women’s singles.
Hsu also had a stellar season, winning six of the seven matches she played at number two singles, including convincing wins in matches against Clark, Smith, and Mount Holyoke, and Wellesley in the regular season.
Quisenberry and Hsu also played together at first doubles for MIT. The pair went 6-1 in NEWMAC doubles regular season play, with their only loss coming to Wheaton. Quisenberry and Hsu also won a match for MIT in the Engineers’ conference tournament loss to Wellesley College. The pair was also named as the #1 doubles pair in second team All-Conference.