Dartmouth Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match to Yale

Saturday, October 23

Hanover, N.H.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

YALE

Dartmouth Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match to Yale

10/23/2010 7:28:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth volleyball team appeared well on its way to ending its four-game losing streak on Saturday against Yale at Leede Arena. The Bulldogs had other ideas, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win the match, 3-2. The loss drops Dartmouth to 12-7 on the season and 3-5 in conference play.

The Big Green came out blazing in the first set, winning 10 of the first 11 points. Yale eventually found its bearings and crept back into the set. The Bulldogs got to within six (22-16), but Dartmouth pulled away, taking the set, 25-17. In the second, the Big Green jumped out to a 6-2 advantage, but Yale was up for the challenge this time. Yale closed the gap when it tied the match at 16. The two teams went back and forth before the Bulldogs scored the last two points of the match on an attack error by Dartmouth and a kill by Bridget Hearst to win, 28-26.

The third set was close like the second. Neither team gained a lead larger than three. The Bulldogs took the advantage early, but the Big Green came back and jumped ahead 12-9 on kills by senior Kelsey Johnson (Carlsbad, Calif.) and junior Kendall Houston (Austin, Texas). Yale kept the pressure on, but could not get close enough to tie with Dartmouth winning, 25-22.

The fourth set is one the Big Green would like to soon forget. With Dartmouth down, 6-5, Yale won eight consecutive points, and 14 of 17 to turn the set into a blowout. The Bulldogs cruised, 25-13, to force a fifth set.

It appeared the fifth set was going to be a carbon copy of the fourth until the Big Green used its second timeout to turn the tide. Trailing 11-5, the squad forced three attack errors and used two Elisa Scudder (Ashburn, Va.) aces to get within one, 11-10. Yale responded by taking the next two points off a kill by Hearst and an attack error by Dartmouth. Junior Annie Villanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and sophomore Lexi Campbell (Solana Beach, Calif.) each recorded a kill to close the gap to one. The Big Green committed and attack error on the next point, and then Erica Reetz ended the match with a kill.

Houston was all over the court for Dartmouth, recording 47 assists, 19 digs and seven kills. Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas) led all players in kills with 25 and she contributed 22 digs. Two other Big Green players tallied double-digit digs; Amber Bryant (Libertyville, Ill.) with 17 and Vivian Snider (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with 11.

Hearst put on a show leading Yale. The lefty tallied 21 kills on 39 attacks for a .410 hitting percentage. No player, other than Hearst, on either team hit higher than .300 for the contest. Reetz also put up impressive numbers with 18 kills and 14 digs. Kelly Ozurovich led all players with 23 digs. The win improved Yale to 12-7 overall and 6-2 in the Ivy League.

Dartmouth heads back on the road next week, looking to snap its five-match losing streak. The Big Green travel to Columbia on October 29, game time 7 p.m., and Cornell on October 30, game time 5 p.m.