MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Wesleyan University swept the visiting Bates women's volleyball team, 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-23) in Wesleyan head coach Gale Lackey's final match as she is retiring at the end of the academic year. Lackey has been coaching at Wesleyan since 1978.  

The Cardinals finished the 2014 campaign with a 13-10 overall record and a 3-7 record in NESCAC play. The loss dropped Bates to 9-15 and 0-9 in conference play. The Bobcats will wrap up their season on Saturday at Trinity College (2pm).

The opening set went down to the wire, as the Cardinals needed to score 27 to take out the Bobcats. After Wesleyan took a 4-0 lead Bates battled back to take a 6-4 lead. But the teams would then be tied seven times at 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, and 24. After a junior Abby Leberman (Concord, N.H.) kill gave the Bobcats a 25-24 advantage, the Cardinals bounced back to score three straight points and take the set 27-25. Sarah Small ended the set with a kill.

Set number two was also tight throughout with the Cardinals watching their early 14-9 lead disappear. Bates went on a 10-6 run to get within one point at 20-19. But Wesleyan held off the charge with a Small ace followed by a freshman Tyla Taylor kill, and finished on a 5-1 spurt to take the set 25-20.

The results of the final frame also hung in the balance into the final two points. Wesleyan once again jumped out to a small lead of 10-7 but the Bobcats clawed back in it to tie the match at 13 and then 14. Wesleyan then took five of the next six to extend its lead to 19-15, but Bates continued to fight and tied the score at 21. Bates would then take a 23-22 lead on a junior Brynn Wendel (Boxford, Mass.) kill, but the Cardinals once against staved off defeat by scoring the final three points and taking the set 25-23.  Freshman Sarah Swenson finished point numbers 23 and 25 with kills to give the Wesleyan the victory.

Swenson's 17 kills led Wesleyan, while her classmate Taylor added 15 kills and 12 digs. Senior setter Claire Larson assisted on 41 of the team's 43 kills and sophomore libero Rachel Savage led the Cardinals with 15 digs in the victory.

Sophomore Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) paced the Bobcats in kills with 11 along with nine digs. First-year Augy Silver (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) led her squad with 19 digs, and senior setter Tess Walther (Santa Monica, Calif.) added nine digs to go along with 21 assists. Classmate Miranda Shapiro (New York, N.Y.) had 10 assists and eight digs.

Wesleyan has taken eight of the last 11 matches vs. Bates but the Bobcats still lead the overall series, 26-12.