Johnson Leads Volleyball to 3-1 Win Over Princeton

Friday, November 12

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

PRINCETON

Johnson Leads Volleyball to 3-1 Win Over Princeton

11/12/2010 8:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — Senior Kelsey Johnson (Carlsbad, Calif.) is playing her last matches for the Dartmouth volleyball team, and she is making the most of them. On Friday, the right-side player tallied 19 kills and 13 digs in a 3-1 victory over Princeton at Leede Arena. The Big Green improved to 14-10 overall and 5-8 in the Ivy League. Princeton fell to 13-10 overall and 8-4 in the conference.

From the first point of the match until the last, the Dartmouth team had one mindset and that was to be aggressive. The Tigers were up for the challenge in the first with neither team gaining more than a two-point lead until late in the set. With the score tied at 14, the Big Green scored three straight points on three attack errors by the Tigers, which were forced by blocks from junior Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas), freshman Elisa Scudder (Ashburn, Va.) and junior Annie Villanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif.). From there, the teams went back and forth, but Dartmouth held on, 25-22.

Dartmouth used the momentum from the first in the second set. The team jumped out to a 6-1 lead by taking advantage of Princeton mistakes. The Big Green pushed the lead to 18-10, but the Tigers came storming back. Princeton won 12 of the next 16 points to tie the set at 22. Scudder responded with a kill to gain a one-point advantage. Baird followed it up with a kill of her own to earn set point. The Tigers closed the gap to one on a Cathryn Quinn kill, but Baird ended the set, 25-23, with a kill down the line.

Princeton used its late rally in the second to springboard to a quick lead in the third set. The Tigers cruised to a 10-4 lead and didn't look back, winning the set 25-20. In the fourth, Dartmouth regained control of the match off the hand of Johnson. She scored the first two points with kills and it didn't stop there. In the fourth set alone, she recorded seven kills and had a service ace to account for eight of the teams points. Needless to say, the Tigers looked defeated by the end of the set with the Big Green winning, 25-19.

Johnson's 19 kills led all players in the contest, and it tied her career high that she set earlier this season against Columbia. Baird also recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 16 digs. Junior Alissa Santa Maria (Yorba Linda, Calif.) led all players with 19 digs. She also had 41 assists.

Lydia Rudnick led Princeton with 16 kills and 13 digs. Quinn recorded 14 kills on a .303 hitting percentage, and C.C. Lobben led the team with 16 digs.

Coupled with Yale's win over Columbia on Friday, Dartmouth knocked Princeton out of the race for the Ivy League title. Dartmouth attempts to play spoiler again on Saturday when it hosts the number two team in the conference, Penn, at 4 p.m.