Big Green Defeat Crimson for First Time Since 2015

Friday, September 21

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-6, 1-0

Harvard

5-5, 0-1

Harvard

Dartmouth

Sophomore Mallen Bischoff

Photo by: Doug Austin

Big Green Defeat Crimson for First Time Since 2015

9/21/2018 9:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Charlotte Brackett

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth volleyball opened Ivy League play on a high note Friday evening, taking down Harvard in its first five-set match of the season (24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 17-15). The Big Green improved to 5-6 and 1-0, while the Crimson dipped to 5-5 and 0-1.

This is the first time that Dartmouth has defeated Harvard since a five-setter on Sept. 25, 2015.

Sophomore Mallen Bischoff and junior Corinne Cox had double-doubles; Bischoff had 11 kills and 13 digs, and Cox had 25 assists and 14 digs, while also leading the way with three of the team's six service aces. Senior Zoe Leonard was first with 20 digs and junior Abby Kott had six total blocks.

"I thought this was a lot of fun," head coach Gilad Doron said. "We talked about having no regrets and about grit, and I thought that today, we had a total team effort. We played well in game one, but we let it go. After that, it was a character check for the team. We won game two and looked stronger as the game progressed. This gives us a ton of confidence going forward. I'm really proud of the team. This is, by far, one of the most exciting atmospheres and games that I've been part of, and I'm really happy for the team and hope this is a good start for the rest of the season."

Dartmouth began set one well and, a 10-1 run early on following kills by Bischoff, freshmen Nicole Liddle and Emma Moffet, sophomore Olympia Nagel-Caland and some Crimson errors gave the Green a 16-5 advantage. Harvard came back with a vengeance, however, outscoring Dartmouth, 21-8 to get the comeback win (24-26).

Kills by Liddle and Moffet and an ace by fellow freshman Bella Hedley put Dartmouth up, 3-0, to start set two. The teams traded points until six consecutive Harvard points gave the visitors a slight lead (14-12). Four ties later, and the Crimson still managed to sit a point ahead (21-20), but five consecutive points off kills by Kott (2) and Nagel-Caland, an ace by Cox and a Harvard error made it a 1-1 match (25-21).

The Crimson controlled most of the third set. The Green got within one point following a handful of errors on the other side of the net, but an 8-2 Harvard run gave it the chance to pull ahead (20-13). Dartmouth worked its way back into the game at the end, winning five straight thanks to two errors and kills by sophomore Elise Petit and freshman Francesca Meldrum to get within two, but two more Crimson points ended the set in Harvard's favor (25-21).

Dartmouth came back stronger in the fourth set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead thanks to a kill by Petit, an ace by junior Carly Tower and two Harvard errors. The teams went back and forth, though the Big Green never allowed the Crimson to get too close. With a 20-15 advantage, Dartmouth shut the set down with kills by Petit (2), Meldrum and Kott to force a fifth set (25-17).

With seven ties in the fifth, the set could have gone either way. With Dartmouth down by three points (11-8), Harvard errors allowed the Green to tie things up at 14-14. The Crimson got one more point, but kills by Bischoff, an ace by Cox and an error on the other side gave Dartmouth its first Ivy win of the season.

Next weekend, the Big Green will head to New York to face Columbia and Cornell.