Jacqueline Forney's big all-around performance helped Bates down Middlebury 3-1 in its regular-season finale on Oct. 29, 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College) 

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates volleyball team remained red-hot at the end of the 2016 regular season, the latest evidence being Saturday's 3-1 (25-11, 25-15, 16-25, 25-17) upset win over Middlebury College in Alumni Gym. 

The victory is the Bobcats' (11-13, 5-5 NESCAC) first against the Panthers since the 2003 season, and it allowed Bates to finish with its best conference record since that same year.

Bates moved ahead of Connecticut College in the final standings to grab the seventh seed in next weekend's eight-team NESCAC Championship tournament. 

Middlebury (15-8, 7-3 NESCAC) dropped into a tie with Amherst for second place in the NESCAC. The Panthers earn the second seed based on their regular-season win over Amherst, meaning Bates and Middlebury will meet again in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Friday at Tufts at 5pm.

Bates junior setter Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) had a season-high 50 assists in the match, as well as 16 digs, two kills and two blocks. Senior Chandler McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.) led Bates with 17 kills and first-year Taylor Stafford-Smith (Calabasas, Calif.) had a second straight monster match, tallying 16 kills with only one error on 39 attempts (.385), to go with 14 digs and two blocks. 

Bates sophomore middle hitter Reilly Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) had a career-high 11 kills and three blocks, sophomore Claire Naughton (Darien, Conn.) totaled seven kills and four blocks, and senior Nicole Peraica (East Northport, N.Y.) played a key role with six kills and four blocks. First-year Gabi Eustache (New York, N.Y.) had a match-high 24 digs and senior Hannah Tardie (Orange, Calif.) added 16 digs with three aces.

Middlebury setter Hannah Blackburn recorded a double-double with 29 assists and 14 digs, while Becca Raffel added nine kills and tied Gigi Alper for the team lead with 17 digs. Isabel Sessions led the Panthers with 11 kills.

Bates took the first two sets from the Panthers by 25-11 and 25-15 scores, stretching its streak of sets won at home to 20, before Middlebury regrouped to take the third set 25-16. The Bobcats finished with a 7-1 home record.

Bates got Murphy rolling in the first set, with the sophomore tallying five kills and McGrath adding four. Bates attacked at a .382 clip in the opening set to .030 for Middlebury.

As she did Friday night against Hamilton, Stafford-Smith carried the Bobcats in the second set, with eight kills and no errors on 21 attempts (.381). McGrath added another five kills with no errors as the Bobcats attacked at a .356 rate to Middlebury's .082.

A out-of-bounds call going against McGrath early in the third set, her second straight attack error, seemed to rattle Bates. Alper served seven times in a row, aided by an ace and two kills by Alice Roberts, for a 9-3 lead. Middlebury expanded the lead to as many as 11 points, when Claire White-Dzuro's serve hit the tape and dropped to the floor for a 24-13 lead. Bates rallied for three straight points before the Panthers ended Bates' streak of 20 sets won.

Middlebury led 2-0 in the fourth set when Sessions was blocked by Naughton and Forney for a side out. Naughton then served eight consecutive times as the Bobcats moved back into the driver's seat with an 8-2 lead. Back-to-back kills by Peraica made it 12-3, and an attack error by Raffel made it 13-3. Bates held off Middlebury by no worse than a five-point margin the rest of the way.