Dartmouth Volleyball Defeats St. Francis Brooklyn and UNH

Saturday, September 13

Queens, N.Y.

12:30 PM

Dartmouth College

4-1

St. Francis Brooklyn

2-10

Dartmouth

St. Francis (BKLYN.)

Dartmouth Volleyball Defeats St. Francis Brooklyn and UNH

9/13/2014 5:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

QUEENS, N.Y. – Facing tough competitors on the second day of the Jack Kaiser Tournament, Dartmouth volleyball came away with two victories. The Green and white defeated St. Francis Brooklyn in five sets, 18-25, 25-16, 26-17, 23-25, 15-9. Later on in the afternoon, the Big Green collected another win, also in five sets, against New Hampshire, 13-25, 25-21, 15-25, 25-20, 15-11. The team from the Upper Valley improved to 6-1 on the season and ended up third.

“I'm really proud of the team today,” said head coach Erin Lindsey. “It definitely wasn't our best day, especially the start. We came out pretty late and weren't executing well against St. Francis, but I am pleased the team came back and fought and stayed with it even when things weren't going perfectly.”

Starting with a kill by sophomore Lottie MacAulay, the two teams were evenly matched from the right from the beginning of the first set, tying five separate times until St. Francis Brooklyn won three unanswered points off a kill, an error and a service ace to give them a 9-6 lead. Senior Alex Schoenberger, junior Paige Caridi and MacAulay all had three kills in the first set, while junior Stacey Benton led with seven assists, and Caridi and sophomore Julia Lau had three digs apiece.

Two attack errors by the opponents gave Dartmouth a 2-0 edge in set two. Following a kill by the Terriers that took the score to 9-6 in favor of the team from the Upper Valley, the Big Green went on a four-point run, taking a 13-6 lead off a service error, two kills by Caridi and one by classmate Kayden Cook. Three Caridi kills, one by MacAulay, and one error gave Dartmouth another four points, a run that was not broken up until Kelly O'Halloran earned a kill for St. Francis. The Green and White never let the Terriers to get closer than 10 before the set ended.

The score was tied 10 times in the fourth set, with Dartmouth starting and remaining in the lead until the very end of the set. Tied at 21, the Big Green took a two-point lead after an error and an ace by Benton. From there, St. Francis went on a four-point run to end the set, taking advantage of two Dartmouth errors and two kills to end a close set with a score of 25-23.

As they had done in each of the other four sets, the Big Green won the first point in the fifth, taking a 3-0 lead off an error and two service aces by Cook. For the remainder of the set, Dartmouth kept a safe distance ahead of St. Francis, never letting the opponent get closer than five points behind. Led by junior Emily Astarita with her three kills and with the help of four errors on the other side of the net, the Green and White shut the set down swiftly.

Caridi recorded a double-double with her 17 kills and 19 digs, while Cook had 40 assists and three aces, and sophomore Julia Lau had 29 digs.

Three kills by three different Dartmouth players started the first set against New Hampshire well, but an 11-point run by the Wildcats turned the tables in the opponents' favor. Two kills and an error on the other side of the net got Dartmouth back in the game (12-6). Another run by New Hampshire was cut shot by a service error, but that was not enough to let the Big Green get any closer before the set closed.

Set two started off better for the Green and White, who won the first two points off aces by Cook and managed to remain at least one point ahead of the Wildcats the whole time. Five kills apiece by Caridi and sophomore Kaira Lujan and seven errors by the Wildcats helped the Big Green score a win.

Playing its tenth set of the day, the Big Green scored first on an attack error by New Hampshire and, after a handful of kills on the other side of the net, the score was tied at 11 with just four points needed to win. Dartmouth went on a four-point run after two errors and two kills by Astarita to close the day on a high note.

Astarita and Caridi both recorded double-doubles; Astarita had 15 kills and 12 digs, while Caridi had 12 kills and 20 digs. Cook had a total of 47 assists.

“New Hampshire looked good,” Lindsey continued. “They were super scrappy and we put up a great fight. We knew we had to play well to beat them. I am excited with the way things are going so far this season.”

Next Friday and Saturday, Dartmouth volleyball will travel to New Jersey for the Seton Hall Tournament.