Dartmouth Volleyball Clinches Season Opener against Saint Francis

Friday, September 5

Baltimore, Md.

4:30 PM

Dartmouth College

1-0

Saint Francis (PA)

0-4

Saint Francis (Pa.)

Dartmouth

Big Green Volleyball Wins Ivy Opener Against Harvard, 3-2

Dartmouth Volleyball Clinches Season Opener against Saint Francis

9/5/2014 7:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

BALTIMORE, Md. – Dartmouth's volleyball team secured a win in its season-opening match against Saint Francis (Pa.) at the Greyhound Challenge at Loyola on Friday afternoon. The Big Green (1-0) fell, 21-25, in the first set before winning the remaining three, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22. The Red Flash dipped to 0-4 on the season.

“We started off really shaky,” said head coach Erin Lindsey. “We had first match jitters for sure. Our serving and passing wasn't there, but even though we did have a shaky start, I am very proud of how the team came back to take the win.”

To start the evening, Dartmouth won the first point, thanks to a kill by senior Lucia Pohlman, but the Big Green soon lost the lead when the Red Flash scored their first point off a kill by Emily Marcinowski. From that point onward, Saint Francis did not concede the lead, never allowing Dartmouth to get closer than a two-point differential.

Set two was a different story for the Green and White, which won the first two points off kills by junior Paige Caridi. After a handful of kills and an error by Saint Francis, Dartmouth went on a five-point rally following two Saint Francis errors and kills by junior Kayden Cook, sophomore Emily Astarita and junior Kaira Lujan, giving it an 11-4 edge.

After back-and-forth play, the Red Flash scored four unanswered points to get within two (21-19), but two more kills by Caridi and Astarita and a service error gave the team from the Upper Valley a 24-19 lead. Saint Francis continued to lessen the gap, getting within three (24-21) before a service error by Breanna Opera ended the set in Dartmouth's favor.

With one set apiece, both teams started to fight harder. Like each set before, the Big Green earned the first point, this time off an attack error on the other side of the net. Throughout the set, the two teams were tied 13 separate times, with Dartmouth only giving up the lead three times before quickly taking it back. With three kills and three blocks by Lujan, and three kills and two blocks by Astarita, the Green and White were able to take the set by a score of 25-22.

In the final set of the night, Saint Francis won the first point off a bad set, but Dartmouth soon took the lead off back-to-back kills by sophomore Danielle Glinka and Caridi. From there, the Red Flash scored four unanswered points and would remain comfortably ahead until the last few minutes of action. Kills by Caridi and Astarita and an attack error lessened the gap to three (21-18) before the Big Green went on a six-point rally that ultimately won them the set

Caridi led the team with 15 kills, while Astarita was close behind with 13 and Cook had an impressive 36 assists. The team had a total of 51 kills, 48 assists, five service aces and 21 errors.

“I am very proud of Emily Astarita and Morgan Waterman for their hard work,” Lindsey continued. “Emily came off the bench and helped with the offensive load, while Morgan came in as a sub and stabilized our passing. They made a huge difference and helped the team come away with a win.”

The final day of the tournament will begin with an 11 a.m. match against host Loyola before a 4 p.m. faceoff with Quinnipiac.