Bates volleyball team seniors and parents celebrated Senior Day after Bates' win over Husson on Oct. 31, 2015. (Rajpreet Dhaliwal) 

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College volleyball team fell 3-1 to Bowdoin College in a NESCAC match before winning 3-0 over Husson University later on Saturday afternoon, in the team's regular-season finale at Alumni Gymnasium.

Bowdoin (20-4, 9-1 NESCAC) clinched the top seed in next weekend's NESCAC Championships for the second time in team history. Husson (9-21) fell by a 3-0 score to Bowdoin in between Bates' two matches, giving the Polar Bears their eighth straight victory.

Prior to the day's action, Bates (10-14, 3-7 NESCAC) was already locked into the eighth seed in the tournament, so the Bobcats and Polar Bears will meet again Saturday at Bowdoin in the conference quarterfinals.

Bates junior Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) had 14 kills and sophomore Lisa Slivken (New York, N.Y.) contributed a career-high 12 kills in the loss to Bowdoin. Sophomore Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) had 27 assists with 12 digs, with junior Hannah Tardie (Orange, Calif.) adding 15 assists and six digs. Senior Laryssa Schepel (Flemington, N.J.) had a team-high 16 digs.

For Bowdoin, Christy Jewett had a match-high 20 kills along with eight digs, and Erika Sklaver added 15 kills and four blocks. Quincy Leech had 46 assists and 10 digs for the Polar Bears, while Katie Doherty led the team with 17 digs.

Bates established early dominance against Husson, posting a 25-6 win in the first set before coasting to relatively easy 25-17 and 25-15 wins in the next two. Playing in her final home and regular-season match, senior Abby Leberman (Concord, N.H.) led the Bobcats with six kills, while fellow senior Brynn Wendel (Boxford, Mass.) and McGrath added five apiece. A third senior, Schepel, led the team with 18 digs, and a fourth, Mary Deneen (Windsor, Conn.), posted three kills, four digs and two blocks. Senior Nicole Cueli (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), who has been out of action due to injury all season, also made a special final appearance and served up an ace.