Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Defeats Columbia for Weekend Sweep

Saturday, October 31

Hanover, N.H.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

COLUMBIA

Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Defeats Columbia for Weekend Sweep

10/31/2009 5:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Dartmouth Women's Volleyball defeated Columbia, 3-1 on Saturday afternoon to earn a weekend sweep of its Ivy League opponents. The victory gives the Big Green a 9-11 record, 5-5 in the league. Game scores were 25-22, 26-28, 25-17, 25-16,

Back and forth early on the first set as neither team led by more than two points. Columbia began to pull away, leading 11-7 before Annie Villanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif.) had a great kill to give the Big Green the ball back with another kill putting Dartmouth down by two, 11-9. An ace by Meagan MacGregor (Carlsbad, Calif.) gave the Big Green another point but the Lions got the sideout. The two sides traded points, tying the score the next four times. Columbia grabbed a quick lead at 18-17 and then again at 19-18. A Lexie Campbell (Solana Beach, Calif.) kill tied it at 19 before Morgan Covington (Katy, Texas) had one to tie it at 20. Another Covington kill gave the Big Green the lead before Columbia burned a timeout. A kill by Campbell gave Dartmouth a two-point lead as the Lions coach took a second timeout. MacGregor killed the 23rd point as the Big Green was looking at set point but Columbia won the sideout off a kill by Monique Roberts. Dartmouth got the victory off a Lions error as the Big Green took the victory.

The second set started much like the first as neither side seemed to gain the momentum early. With a kill by Covington things seemed to start to swing Dartmouth's way. Covington served her team to four straight points as the Big Green went up 10-6. Two errors by Dartmouth and a kill by the Lions had Columbia inching back, down 10-11. A kill by Roberts tied the score at 11 as Big Green head coach Ann Marie Larese took a timeout. MacGregor killed the next point and then served the home team to another point. Roberts recorded a solo block as Columbia took its first lead of the set. Two more kills by Roberts gave the visitors a two-point lead. The Lions continued to lead as Dartmouth continued to stay down by at least three. Kills by MacGregor and Merchat followed by a Columbia error suddenly had the game tied at a crucial point in the set, 22-all. A Dartmouth error gave the Lions game point before a Columbia error tied the match. A kill by Merchat gave the Big Green the 25-24 lead but the Lions would not go quietly. The two teams perched on game point several times but neither side could get the much needed point. A block by Roberts and Kelsey Musselman gave the visitors the Set Two victory as the match was tied at one apiece.

In the third, Dartmouth took the lead early and Columbia had to use two timeouts to try and regroup. MacGregor killed the Big Green's 11th point as the home team lead 11-5. Dartmouth continued to lead by as much as six. Behind the serving of Megan Gaughn, the Lions roared back and got to within three at 11-14 before the Big Green called a timeout. Campbell and MacGregor killed the next two points to go up again by five. Leading 21-16, the Big Green started to close the door. A kill by Villanueva gave the Big Green the victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was much like the previous three as the two sides traded points back and forth. Behind several kills by MacGregor and Covington gave the Big Green took a six-point lead, 15-9. The Lions started to chip away at the lead, trailing 13-16. Covington got the ball when Dartmouth was up 19-15 and the senior co-captain proceeded to serve the next three points as the Big Green took a 22-15 lead. Dartmouth never allowed the Lions to get much closer, winning easily and taking the match.

For the match two freshman were stellar for the Big Green. Campbell had a double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs while Alissa Santa Maria (Yorba Linda, Calif.) had a career-high 45 assists and 15 digs. MacGregor led both teams with a game-high 25 kills and added 12 digs. Covington and Campbell each chipped in 11 kills while Hartman was the game leader with 26 digs.

Dartmouth will continue at home next weekend with a Friday match against Yale before a matchup on Saturday against Brown for the Big Green's Senior Day.