Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Splits on Last Day of Dartmouth Invitational

Saturday, September 27

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

ST. FRANCIS (N.Y.)

Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Splits on Last Day of Dartmouth Invitational

9/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

St. Francis Boxscore
Bryant Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth women's volleyball team began the day defeating St. Francis rather easily in three sets but fell to Bryant in a tough, 3-1 match, on Day Two of the Dartmouth Invitational. Sophomore Kelsey Johnson (Carlsbad, Calif.) was named to the All-Tournament team after 16 kills, five service aces, 12 digs and nine total blocks in three matches.

In the Big Green's opening match of the day Dartmouth dominated St. Francis from the first serve as the Big Green won 25-12, 25-15 and 25-14. Megan MacGregor (Carlsbad, Calif.) led the team in kills with 11. Natalia Wrobel (La Jolla, Calif.) was tops with 34 assists as Amber Bryant (Libertyville, Ill.) was the team leader with 12 digs. Dartmouth hit .315 in the match while holding the Terriers to a .000 percentage. The Big Green also had six total blocks in the match while notching seven service aces.

The second match of the day was a different story as Bryant came away with a 3-1 victory. Game scores were 25-23, 21-25, 25-14, 28-26. In the first set Bryant began with three straight points before a Jessica Hartman (Woodside, Calif.) kill gave Dartmouth the ball. The Bulldogs increased their lead to 10-4 before Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas) and Johnson recorded kills that put the Big Green down by just four. Bryant increased its lead to eight before two straight aces by Jessica Hartman (Woodside, Calif.) and two kills by Johnson had Dartmouth down by just two. The Bulldogs went back up by four after a timeout. Jess Thomas (Tampa, Fla.) and Krista Merchat (Carlsbad, Calif.) both contributed kills but a service error on the Big Green would end the game to give Bryant the victory.

In the next set the Bulldogs began with four straight points before two kills by freshman Annie Villanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif.) brought Dartmouth roaring back into it. Kills by Johnson and Baird along with a Bryant error helped Dartmouth tie the game before the Big Green took its first lead of the set off two straight Bulldog errors. Villanueva and MacGregor both had kills for the home team to give Dartmouth its biggest lead at 15-10 but three straight Bryant points led to a Big Green timeout. A solo and assisted block by Villanueva helped Dartmouth take the victory to tie the match at a game apiece.

Behind solid blocking the Bulldogs took the third set easily, cruising to a 25-14 victory, holding the Big Green to a .000 hitting percentage.

The final set had the two tied early before Dartmouth took the lead and steadily pulled ahead behind Thomas' serving. A rotation error on the Big Green took two points away as Bryant suddenly found itself down by just two instead of four. The Bulldogs tied the game at 21 and then took the lead before Johnson aced a serve to tie the contest at 24. Thomas killed a point as the Big Green were sitting at game point but the Bulldogs came back to tie it up and take the lead before winning on two straight kills.

Thomas led Dartmouth with 15 kills and chipped in 18 digs as MacGregor also had 12 kills. Johnson recorded a .391 hitting percentage with nine kills and seven digs along with three total blocks. Wrobel was tops with 47 assists and Bryant led the squad with 20 digs.

Maria Scocca and Maureen Atkins both made the All-Tournament team for the Bulldogs as Scocca was tops with 12 total blocks and Atkins had 20 digs.

The Big Green will begin its Ivy schedule next week, traveling to Harvard for a 7:00 pm match on Friday.