Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Splits First Games at Harvard Invitational

Friday, September 12

Cambridge, Mass.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Long Beach State

Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Splits First Games at Harvard Invitational

9/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

Long Beach State Boxscore
Central Connecticut Boxscore

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Despite falling to the No. 20 Long Beach State 49ers in three straight sets 25-11, 25-8, 25-14 the Dartmouth women's volleyball team rallied against Central Connecticut State to force and win a fifth and deciding game in its second match of the Harvard Invitational on Friday. The Blue Devils won the first two, 25-18 and 25-19 before the Big Green battled back to win Games Three and Four, 25-17, 25-22. The fifth and final game was close but Dartmouth was able to close it out and win, 15-13.

Early in the day a balanced effort from the 49ers led by Quincy Verdin helped the Beach continue its winning ways. Also helping the offense were nine service aces from the team.

Long Beach State had control throughout, only trailing twice in the entire match, both times by a single point in the early portions of sets two and three. The 49ers had eight blocks to Dartmouth's five, and hit .312 overall while forcing a second straight opponent into negative hitting. The Big Green finished the match with just 12 kills for -.072 average.

In the second match of the day for Dartmouth, CCSU won the first two games rather easily but it was the third game that proved to be the turning point. The Big Green led off and did not look back as the Blue Devils were never closer than six points. The fourth game was much closer as the two battled from the opening serve. Dartmouth was able to pull ahead late to tie the match.

The fifth and deciding game had the Blue Devils jumping out to a quick, 5-1 lead but the Big Green rallied to tie the game at 5-5. CCSU capitalized on a couple Dartmouth errors to go up by four. An attacking error on the Blue Devils along with kills by Morgan Covington (Katy, Texas) and Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas) helped the Big Green take its first lead at 13-11. A kill by Baird and an attacking error on the Central Connecticut gave Dartmouth the win as the Big Green improved to 2-1 on the season.

"Obviously we are very happy to get out with a win," said head coach Ann Marie Larese. "The girls really put it together and we played much better late in the match. We made a few changes and they responded and played much better defensively. Morgan was solid all over the court and she played like the upperclassmen we need her to be."

Despite hitting .167 and .097 in Games One and Two Dartmouth finished the match with a .214 hitting percentage. Three Big Green players were in double-figure kills, led by Megan MacGregor (Carlsbad, Calif.) with 17 while Covington and Baird added 14 apiece. Natalia Wrobel (La Jolla, Calif.) was tops with a career-high 40 assists as Kelsey Johnson (Carlsbad, Calif.) led her squad with 13 digs.

Dartmouth will continue at the Harvard Invitational with a 4:30 matchup with American University tomorrow.