{"id":128671,"date":"2019-11-14T12:50:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T17:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=128671"},"modified":"2021-06-08T11:20:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T15:20:41","slug":"we-had-each-others-backs-memories-from-volleyballs-perfect-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2019\/11\/14\/we-had-each-others-backs-memories-from-volleyballs-perfect-season\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We had each other\u2019s backs’: Memories from volleyball’s perfect season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty years ago last Monday, Nov. 11, at halftime of what would be a lopsided loss for the Bates football team, an announcement came over the Garcelon Field PA speakers: Over at Alumni Gym, the undefeated volleyball team was about to begin its championship match in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament.<\/p>\n

“We never really had many fans,” recalls Laurie Plante Graumann ’90, a senior middle hitter on the 1989 team. But as word spread on campus after the halftime announcement, people flocked to Alumni in a scene ripped from a Hollywood screenplay.<\/p>\n

“The gym was packed with people cheering for us!\u201d Plante Graumann says.<\/p>\n

The Bates fans that day saw history in the making. Led by fifth-year coach Marsha Graef<\/a>, the Bobcats were 35-0 and hosting St. John Fisher for the ECAC title, during an era when the regional championship was the furthest a NESCAC team could advance.<\/p>\n

The Bobcats won the match 3-0 (15-11, 15-9, 15-9) and completed an unprecedented perfect season: 36-0.<\/p>\n

\"Co-captains<\/a>

On Nov. 11, 1989, co-captains Michele Feroah ’90 (right) and Cathy Meoni Ringling ’90 celebrate Bates’ victory in the ECAC championship match, capping a 36-0 season. (Bates Communications)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI never guessed at the beginning of the year that this would happen,\u201d Graef said to The Bates Student<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe had a tougher schedule this year and thought we might drop a match here and there, especially at the Ithaca and Eastern Connecticut tourneys. But this team is the best that I have ever coached.\u201d<\/p>\n

And 30 years later, that year\u2019s squad of 10 women still holds the best win-loss record in Bates athletics history.<\/p>\n

Graef came to Bates in 1985 and started building the Bates volleyball program into what the Student<\/span><\/i> called \u201ca quiet dynasty in our midst.\u201d Jumping from a .500 record the year before to a 28-7 mark in \u201985, volleyball soon became the school\u2019s winningest team.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Watch how fifth-year head coach Melissa DeRan and the current Bobcats are reconnecting with the alumni who established a tradition of success.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n