Big Green Fall to Zips on Day One of WVU Invite

Friday, September 16

Morgantown, W.V.

4:30 PM

Dartmouth College

6-2

Akron

4-6

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
AKRON	17	25	25	25	3
Dartmouth	25	20	17	19	1

Big Green Fall to Zips on Day One of WVU Invite

9/16/2016 6:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Dartmouth volleyball fell to Akron, 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 17-25, 19-25) on the first day of the West Virginia Invitational on Friday. The Big Green dipped to 6-2 on the season, while the Zips improved to 4-6.

Sophomore Zoe Leonard had a team-leading 15 assists, while senior Julia Lau led both teams with 21 digs. Seniors Emily Astarita and Kaira Lujan both had five block assists. Errors played a big part in the match, as Akron committed 33 throughout the four sets.

“We didn't play as sharply as we hoped,” head coach Gilad Doron said. “Our ball control was lacking, which effected our offense. We need to regroup in a short amount of time and be ready for two more matches tomorrow. I am hoping we learn from tonight's match and make the changes we need to play better tomorrow.”

Dartmouth opened the match by taking the first five points off four straight Akron points and an Astarita kill. From that point on, the Green had control of the set and did not let the Zips get within five points. With a 15-8 edge, an error on the other side of the net and a kill by freshman Abby Kott increased Dartmouth's lead (17-8). Even though Akron scored five in a row to slightly close the gap (17-12), the Big Green remained comfortably ahead until the end of the set.

With a 19-14 lead, Dartmouth made it 22-14 following two Zip errors and a kill by senior Molly Kornfeind. Akron got one more, but another error and a Lujan kill made it game point (24-15). The Green were held there for two points, but an Akron error ended the first set (25-17).

The first two points of the second set went in Dartmouth's favor, thanks to a Leonard ace and an error by the Zips and, following another handful of errors, the Big Green had a 6-2 advantage. Akron turned things around, however, scoring five straight points to take a 7-6 lead. Dartmouth tied the score, but the opponent broke the tie, only to have the Green slip ahead courtesy of a trio of errors by the other team (10-8). Seven consecutive points by the Zips made it 15-10 in their favor, and then, directly afterwards, six in a row by Dartmouth gave the lead back to the Green (16-15). There were three more ties before the Zips made it 22-20, scoring three more times to take the set (25-20).

A Kott kill got things started in the third, but six of the next seven points went to Akron (6-2). Trailing by four points, three errors and a kill by Astarita put the Big Green within one (10-9). Dartmouth would stay within three points for the next few minutes until a five-point run put the Zips close to another victory (21-13). The Green would get four more points from Akron errors before the Zips took the set (25-17).

For the fourth set in a row, Dartmouth won the first point, this time off a Lujan kill. Akron got three of its own, but the Green got ahead following two errors and another kill by Lujan (4-3). The two teams traded points until the Zips pulled ahead, but Dartmouth was always right behind. Three straight points following a pair of Akron errors and a kill by junior Sara Lindquist got the Green within three (22-19), but three unanswered points by the Zips wrapped things up (25-19).

Dartmouth will return to action on Saturday with a 10 a.m. match against Winthrop and a 7 p.m. match against the host WVU. Video will be provided for the second of those matches.