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Liz Leberman '10 attacks during a midseason match against Tufts -- a prelude to the teams' meeting in the quarterfinals of the 2008 NESCAC Championship.

A nice mix of veterans and rookies made for a 2008 season of great strides for the Bates College volleyball team. The Bobcats recorded their first berth in the eight-team NESCAC Championship, as well as their finest record, since the 2004 season, finishing 15-18 after falling to the top-seeded Tufts Jumbos in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC playoffs.

Bates finished its season well against a Tufts team that went 10-0 in the conference season. Junior Tess Dokus (Salem, Conn.) and senior Beth Billington (St. Paul, Minn.) were on offensively, finishing up excellent seasons by both players by combining for 20 kills with just one error. Dokus led with 12. First-year Olivia Schow (Costa Mesa, Calif.) contributed three service aces. The Bobcats served 10 aces overall. On defense, junior Liz Leberman (Concord, N.H.) handled 39 pass attempts with just three errors and added 17 digs in addition to 6 kills. Dokus and Billington were also in on three blocks each. First-year Grace Haessler (Portland, Ore.) notched 26 assists and 5 digs,

Among the newcomers, Haessler stepped into the starting setter's role from the first day of the season and turned in an impressive rookie season, passing out 8.43 assists per set, good for sixth in the conference, while also notching a team-high 57 service aces. Middle blocker Schow emerged as the second-most efficient attacker on the team, notching 1.78 kills per set with an attack percentage of .243. Right side Chrissy Gee (San Francisco, Calif.) was also a promising contributor.

Among the veterans, senior middle blocker Billington (St. Paul, Minn.), junior outside hitter Dokus (Salem, Conn.) and junior middle blocker Avery Masters (Mill Valley, Calif.) all turned in arguably the best seasons of their careers. Billington led the Bobcats and ranked sixth in the NESCAC in hitting percentage (.301) and fifth in blocks per set (0.80). Dokus led the squad in kills per set (2.25), hitting at a solid .236 rate, and Masters was close to the same numbers, with 1.90 kills per set and a .219 hitting percentage. Leberman, a team co-captain along with Billington, proved to be a consistent presence on serve reception, taking over one-third of all receiving attempts at a solid .888 percentage, while also ranking second on the team in digs (2.89/set) and second in kills per set (2.07). Junior Kira Kramlich (San Francisco, Calif.) paced the back row with a team-high 3.14 digs per set.

The Bobcats will miss the talents and leadership of Billington, who was nominated to play in the 2008 New England Women's Volleyball Association Senior Classic, but should return everyone else and look forward to making even greater improvements in 2009.