Dartmouth Volleyball Falls to Western Michigan in Five Sets

Friday, September 18

Rochester, Mich.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-4

Western Michigan

3-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Dartmouth	23	25	22	25	9	2
Western Michigan	25	17	25	16	15	3

Dartmouth Volleyball Falls to Western Michigan in Five Sets

9/18/2015 4:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Having to play to five sets for the first time this season, the Dartmouth volleyball team ultimately fell to Western Michigan (23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 9-15) on the first day of the Oakland Tournament on Friday.

The Big Green dipped to 2-4 on the year, while the Broncos improved to 3-10.

Junior Emily Astarita led both teams with 22 kills and senior Paige Caridi was a close second with 18. Classmate Kayden Cook had 56 assists and two of the team's seven service aces. Freshman Zoe Leonard also had two, while also leading the squad with 30 digs.

"I am really proud of how the team competed tonight," head coach Erin Lindsey said. "There were moments when our execution was really good and I think statistically, it was one of our best matches of the year. We unfortunately were not able to close out though to get the win."

Dartmouth and WMU were neck-and-neck for the entirety of the first set, with the Broncos winning the first two points and the Big Green countering with three consecutive points of their own, starting with a kill apiece by freshman Sierra Lyle and Astarita and an error by the opponent. WMU took the lead, although Dartmouth was always right there, and the Broncos stayed ahead until the very end.

Trailing 23-19, a kill by Astarita and senior Allison Brady, a service ace by Cook and a Broncos error tied the two teams at 23. Olivia Kofie put WMU at match point with a kill and Nicole Kinser shut down set one with a kill of her own.

The second set started very differently. Three Astarita kills and one by Caridi, three Bronco errors and an ace by Cook gave the Green an easy 9-2 lead. After allowing WMU to get within four (9-5), two more kills by Caridi and three errors on the other side of the net made it a 14-5 set. The teams traded points back-and-forth and, with a score of 22-15, the opponents got two straight off a pair of errors to make it 22-17. Kills by Lyle and senior Kaira Lujan and a Bronco error made it a 1-1 match.

Dartmouth led for the first part of the third set, but a six-point run by WMU gave the Broncos a 12-9 edge that they would hold on to until the end of the set. The Big Green got within two (22-20), but the other team was able to get three more points before Dartmouth had the chance to, giving the Broncos a 2-1 advantage.

The Green took set four right from the beginning, getting ahead with two kills by Caridi, one by Astarita and two WMU errors to take a 5-0 lead. Two Bronco points made it a 22-15 set, but back-to-back kills by Caridi put Dartmouth at match point (24-15). WMU got one more point in off a kill by Bailey Schnell, but another Caridi kill sent the match to a fifth set.

Dartmouth won the first point of the fifth set off an error, but the Broncos took six of the next eight points to take an early 6-3 edge. The teams traded points and, with the Green trailing slightly, 10-7, they got one point closer following a WMU error. From there, the opponent earned three unanswered points that put them right on victory's doorstep. Dartmouth made it 13-9 with a Caridi kill, but two Sydney LeMay kills got the Broncos to that 15th point to end the match.

"I thought it was a really good match to test us at a similar level to our conference," Lindsey continued. "We are looking forward to improving on finishing on some attacks and touching a few more balls at the net on the block. Overall, I thought this was a well-played match with a lot of earned points. We are geting beter every time we get the chance to compete."

On the second and final day of the tournament, Dartmouth will take on Eastern Illinois at 12 p.m. and host Oakland at 7 p.m.