Dartmouth Volleyball Loses to Penn, 3-1

Friday, October 19

Hanover, N.H.

5:00 p.m

Dartmouth College

PENN

10/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's volleyball team dropped its second Ivy match in a row with a 3-1 loss to Penn on Friday in Leede Arena. The Quakers hit .230 in the match to improve to 10-7 overall, 4-2 in the league while the Big Green hit .144 and fell to 12-5, 5-2 Ivy. Game scores were 24-30, 27-30, 30-27, 19-30.

Katie Hirsch (Austin, Texas) started things off for the home team by helping the Big Green to a 4-0 lead. Penn came back and the two then traded sideouts until the Quakers took the lead at 13-12. There was then two leads changes and three ties before Penn eventually took over the lead for good at 26-23 and never looked back to win, 30-23.

Game Two started like the first with the two teams trading the lead. A huge block by Frances Samolowicz (St. Charles, Ill.) and Sandy Barbut (Los Angeles, Calif.) allowed Dartmouth to tie the game at seven-all. Penn recaptured the lead at 10-8 and five ties later surged ahead. Whitney Ward (Hilton Head, S.C.) got her team back into it with four straight points as the Big Green was down by just two at 22-20. The Quakers went up again by three before Jess Thomas (Tampa, Fla.) aced a serve with Hirsh and Ward blocking a point to put the Big Green down by one, 27-28. Unfortunately a blocking error on the Green gave Penn a 2-0 lead in the match, winning, 30-27.

With several Dartmouth errors to start the third game, the Quakers were able to go up quickly. Thomas brought her team back into it as the Big Green tied the game at nine. A four-point advantage by Penn made Dartmouth take a timeout. Megan MacGregor (Carlsbad, Calif.) came out of the break to serve her team to 15-16. Samolowicz recorded back-to-back service aces as the home team tied the game, setting off a string of six ties. A Penn timeout with Dartmouth ahead 22-21 did not ice Hirsch who served or helped her team score the next five points to give the Big Green a 27-22 lead. A Quaker error at game point gave Dartmouth a 30-27 win.

A sluggish Dartmouth team allowed Penn to take control of the match in the fourth and final game as the Quakers won easily, 30-19.

Thomas and Barbut both had double-figure kills with 11 and 13, respectively while Hirsch added 45 assists and 12 digs. Along with Hirsch three other players had double-figure digs led by Amanda Marston (Austin, Texas) with 17.

Dartmouth, still fighting for the top spot in the league, takes on first-place Princeton on Saturday at 4:00. The Tigers played at Harvard on Friday, sporting a 5-0 Ivy record.