Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Pulls Out Victory Over Brown

Friday, November 6

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

BROWN

Dartmouth Women's Volleyball Pulls Out Victory Over Brown

11/6/2009 6:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth women's volleyball team had to take Brown to five sets but the Big Green was able to come away with the 3-2 victory. Scores were 23-25, 25-10, 25-22, 19-25, 15-8. The win improves Dartmouth to 10-11 overall and 6-5 in the league while Brown falls to 5-16, 1-9 Ivy.

Megan MacGregor (Carlsbad, Calif.) led all players with 20 kills in the match, she also added 15 digs. Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas) added 17 kills and 15 digs for a double-double as Morgan Covington (Katy, Texas) and Krista Merchat (Carlsbad, Calif.) each had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Jessie Hartman (Woodside, Calif.) chipped in 17 digs while Amber Bryant (Libertyville, Ill.) had a game-high 24. Alissa Santa Maria (Yorba Linda, Calif.) recorded a whopping 60 assists, a career-high for her.

It was point-for-point in the early goings of Set One but Brown slowly started to pull away and lead by three, 7-5. The Bears continued to lead by at least two as Dartmouth couldn't seem to catch up. Brown continued to increase its point spread, going up by six, 15-9. The Big Green slowly started to mount a comeback off of kills by Covington and Hartman, down by only one, 16-17 before Brown stopped the momentum with a sideout. The Bears ran the score back up to five, 21-17 before Dartmouth called a timeout. Baird proceeded to record the next couple of kills for the Big Green, down by just two. Thanks to several Brown hitting errors, Dartmouth found itself tied with the visitors late in the set but the Bears Megan Toman killed the last point to give Brown the 25-23 victory.

The Big Green held a slim margin early in the second set as Baird kept it close for the home team. With several long rallies that got the crowd into the match neither side wanted to concede a point but Dartmouth found itself leading, 9-5 before the Bears took a timeout. A Covington service ace and several Brown errors gave the Big Green a 16-8 lead. Covington served her team to 10 straight points, enroute to a 25-10 win, evening the match at one apiece.

Much like the previous two sets the third was close from the very beginning but the Bears started to increase its lead, going up 10-4. The Big Green inched up to 11-7 but couldn't get much closer. Finally a kill by MacGregor put the home team down by just two as Brown took a timeout to regroup. With the Bears leading, 18-16 a Brown hitting error followed by a Covington kill had Dartmouth down by just one. A solo block by Santa Maria kept the Big Green in it as the Bears recorded an error to tie the set at 19. A kill by Villanueva gave Dartmouth the lead as Brown took another timeout. The Big Green took over the as Covington and Merchat blocked the final point to give Dartmouth a two-set lead.

With several big kills early the Big Green went up, 6-4. Brown came back to tie the set and take a one-point lead but Dartmouth battled right back and led by two, 9-7. The Big Green continued to build on its lead, never allowing Brown to get closer than two points. The Bears methodically climbed back into the set and tied it up at 16-all and took the lead, 18-17. The two teams proceeded to trade the next couple of points before Brown took a four-point lead late and Dartmouth took a timeout. The Bears held onto the lead and won the fourth set to tie the match at two games apiece.

In the fifth and deciding game, the Big Green began the set with two straight blocks but a kill and and a service ace by the visiting team knotted the score. Baird killed the fourth point to give the home a two point lead and then killed another one at 6-4. A block by Covington and Santa Maria gave Dartmouth a three point lead in the crucial set. A huge kill by MacGregor at 8-4 as the teams traded sides. The Big Green continued to hold the lead as Brown began to mount a comeback but Dartmouth was not to be denied, winning the set, 15-8.

The Big Green will be back in action on Saturday at 4:00 with a match against Yale. The match will be the last for two Dartmouth seniors, Covington and MacGregor.