Poughkeepsie, NY – Coming off its second straight Liberty League Championship, the Vassar College Women's Basketball team will open the NCAA Tournament on Friday when it takes on Amherst in the First Round. Tip-off from Smith College's Ainsworth Gym is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. with Live Stats and Video available for those unable to attend.
 
Tickets: Friday's First Round games at Smith are SOLD OUT. You must have a ticket upon arrival to enter Ainsworth Gym. No tickets will be available at the door prior to tip-off.
 
Tip-Off: Vassar will make its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday when it takes on Amherst in Northampton, MA. Tip-off with the Mammoths at Ainsworth Gym on the campus of Smith College is set for 4:15 p.m.
 
Last Time Out: The Brewers won their second straight Liberty League Championship on Sunday with a 66-53 road win at top-seeded Ithaca. Julia Harvey was named the Championship Most Outstanding Player after scoring a game-high 22 points, on the strength of 4-for-7 shooting from three-point range. Harvey finished two games in the Championship averaging 21.0 points and shooting 41.2-percent from three-point range.
 
A Look At Amherst: The Mammoths enter play on Friday with a 19-7 overall record and are coming off a 58-49 loss to Bowdoin in the NESCAC Semifinals, a defeat that stopped a five-game winning streak. Amherst is scoring 62.7-percent as a team through 26 games and is allowing just 51.4 points to opponents. The Mammoths shoot just under 39-percent as a team from the fi eld and 25.7-percent from three-point range.

Laura Mendell leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points per game, while Kori Barach adds 11.3 points and 2.4 assists per game. Maya Cwalina paces the team in rebounds with 7.2 per night and blocks with 3.3 while chipping in 8.6 points per game.
 
Series History Vs. Amherst: Since the start of the 2003-04 season, the Brewers and Mammoths have met just twice, with Amherst taking both decisions. Amherst scored a 59-40 win in Poughkeepsie on 11/22/03 and then posted a 66-53 victory in Las Vegas as part of the Vegas Hoopla Tournament on 12/28/13.
 
What's At Stake: The winner of the game between the Brewers and Mammoths will take on the advancing team from Friday's second game featuring the host Pioneers and SUNY Cobleskill in the Second Round on Saturday.
 
How We Got Here: Vassar begins play on Friday with a 21-6 overall record and earned the second-seed in the Liberty League Championship with a 15-3 record. Vassar claimed its second straight Liberty League title following a semifinal victory over Skidmore (67-51) and a road win at top-seeded Ithaca on Sunday in Championship Final (66-53).
 
Outstanding!: Julia Harvey was named the Liberty League Championship Most Outstanding Player after averaging 21.0 points and shooting better than 41-percent from three-point range. Harvey led all scorers with 22 points in the final against Ithaca, a game in which went 4-for-7 from three-point range.
 
Weekly Honors: Vassar earned 12 Liberty League Performer of the Week awards in 2024-25 and added one Rookie of the Week honor. Tova Gelb was named the Performer of the Week seven times, Sierra McDermed added three honors and Julia Havery earned the award twice. First Year Erin Lovett was named the league's Rookie of the Week on January 6.
 
All-Conference Accolades: For the second straight season Vassar featured three First Team All-Liberty League performers. Tova Gelb was named the league's Player AND Defensive Player of the Year and was joined on the First Team by Julia Harvey and Sierra McDermed.

Captains, please: Ashley Mostrom, Tash Thompson, Julia Harvey and Tova Gelb, the four seniors on the 2024-25 roster, have served as team captains this season.
 
Tova Does It All: Heading into Friday's contest, senior Tova Gelb leads the team and the Liberty League in scoring (18.6), rebounding (10.7) and steals (2.6). Gelb also ranks inside the top-10 in the conference in minutes (35.9, second), fi eld goal percentage (48%, second), free-throw percentage (79.2%, fifth), assists (2.9, ninth) and blocks (1.1, eighth).
 
Also At The Top: Julia Harvey is tops in the Liberty League with an 87.8-percent conversion rate from the free-throw line with junior Sierra McDermed pacing the conference in minutes (36.0) and assists (3.6).
 
Home Cookin': After going an unbeaten 13-0 at home last season, Vassar took advantage of its home court again in 2024-25, going 12-3 inside the Athletics and Fitness Center. Dating back to the 2018-19 season, Vassar is an impressive 64-12 on its home floor.
 
Road Warriors: Since 2018-19, the Brewers have also been comfortable on the road, posting a 49-22 record in true road games. Vassar has won at least eight games on the road four times since 2018-19, including a 9-1 mark this season.
 
What Are The Odds?: In the Second Round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, Vassar squared-off with the University of Scranton March 8. In that contest, Vassar head coach Meredith Mesaris was in the starting five for Scranton and finished the contest with 11 points and six rebounds.
 
Back-To-Back X2: The 2025 Liberty League crown marks the second time in program history the Brewers have won back-to-back league titles. In addition to championships in 2024 and 2025, Vassar went back-to- back in 2011 and 2012.
 
The Mesaris File: Meredith Mesaris is in her second season on the Vassar sidelines and has mentored the Brewers to a 46-9 record.

Mesaris headlined the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year a season ago and was tabbed the D3Hoops.com Region III Coach of the Year and a WBCA Thirty under 30 honoree.

A standout player at the Division III level at Scranton, Mesaris scored 1,758 career points. Mesaris was named the Landmark Player of the Year as a senior and was selected as a WBCA All-American twice.

Vassar is Mesaris' first head coaching position, but she has been on the sidelines as an assistant at Hendrix, Williams, Dartmouth and Hartford.