Caridi Reaches 1,000 Career Digs in 3-1 Win over Columbia

Friday, November 6

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-10, 7-4

Columbia

7-13, 5-6

Columbia

Dartmouth

Caridi Reaches 1,000 Career Digs in 3-1 Win over Columbia

11/6/2015 9:26:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - In its second to last home match of the 2015 season, the Dartmouth volleyball team defeated Columbia, 3-1, (25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-21) at Leede Arena on Friday night.

The Big Green improved to 10-10 overall and 7-4 in Ivy League play, while the Lions dipped to 7-13 and 5-6 in conference action.

In the third set of the match, senior Paige Caridi earned her 1,000th career dig and is just the 10th Dartmouth player in program history to do so. She needed just seven to reach the mark and ended up getting eight by the final set.

Junior Emily Astarita recorded a double-double with 16 digs and 15 kills, while classmate Stacey Benton had 25 assists and freshman Jordan Cornwell led with 18 digs.

“I am really proud of how gritty we were tonight,” head coach Erin Lindsey said. “Columbia is a team that has a lot of offensive weapons and although they weren't able to put it together all the time, they really had some strong attackers that were hitting very high. We had to make sure that we were serving tough and playing strong defense. I thought that the freshman trio of Sierra, Jordan and Zoe did a really nice job of holding down the back row. I'm also really proud of Emily and Paige, who started out a little slowly in the first two sets, but stuck to it and got some big kills when we needed them at the end. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night and honoring our seniors.”

Columbia started off the first set with a slight lead, and the teams remained within two points until five straight by the Big Green off two kills by freshman Sierra Lyle, an ace by Cornwell and two Columbia errors put Dartmouth up, 17-14. From there, the Green remained comfortably ahead and a kill by Astarita gave the first set to the home team.

The Big Green and the Lions traded points in the early parts of the second and it was not until five consecutive Columbia points gave the visitors a 14-9 advantage. The Lions tied the score at one set each with a Dartmouth error and a kill.

Thirteen ties occurred in a very close third set. With Dartmouth trailing, 21-19, three points off a Columbia error, a kill by Caridi and an ace by Lyle put the home team up, 22-21, but a kill on the other side of the net tied the score at 22. A kill by Astarita gave Dartmouth a 23-22 edge, but another kill tied it right back up again. An error put the Green at game point and big blocks by Astarita and senior Allison Brady put Dartmouth ahead, two sets to one.

The Big Green started the fourth set ahead and maintained a lead for the entire thing. The Lions would get within two (22-20) at the end, but a Caridi kill and an error by the other team put Dartmouth at match point (24-20). Columbia got one point closer with a kill of its own, but an Astarita kill ended the match.

The Big Green will return to Leede Arena for Senior Night against Cornell at 5 p.m. on Saturday.