Dartmouth Goes 1-1 to Finish Second at Home Invitational

Saturday, September 8

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-3

Lafayette

2-6

Lafayette

Dartmouth

Sophomore Olympia Nagel-Caland

Photo by: Mark Washburn

Dartmouth Goes 1-1 to Finish Second at Home Invitational

9/8/2018 8:36:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Charlotte Brackett

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth volleyball went 1-1 on the second day of its home invitational, defeating Lafayette, 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-18) before falling to Boston College in three close sets (19-25, 20-25, 20-25) to finish the weekend in second place.

Freshmen Francesca Meldrum and Nicole Liddle were named all-tournament at the end of the last match.

"Overall, I think we played better this weekend than last," head coach Gilad Doron said. "Obviously, we are disappointed with how we finished, but BC was more physical and won the serve and pass battle. But, we have one more weekend of tournaments to prepare for, and we have some things to work on and figure out how to get better for conference play. On a positive note, we blocked and dug better this weekend. We're going to keep working so we can be a more balanced team for the rest of the season."

Dartmouth vs. Lafayette
Meldrum led the team with 14 points from eight kills, three aces, four digs and five total blocks and had a .615 hitting percentage. Sophomore Olympia Nagel-Caland also had five blocks and was third with seven kills, while senior Zoe Leonard was first with 13 digs.

A good start to set one, which included aces by Meldrum (2) and Liddle, four Lafayette errors and kills by Meldrum and fellow freshman Emma Moffet allowed Dartmouth to take an 11-4 lead. The Leopards would get within four points (20-15), but the Big Green would allow just one more point while scoring five of their own to take the set (25-16).

There were seven ties and three lead changes in the second set. Lafayette had a slight lead to start, but five in a row for Dartmouth following kills by Meldrum and sophomore Elise Petit, and three straight Leopard errors put the Green ahead, 17-13. Although Lafayette would tie things up at 22-all, two more errors and a Nagel-Caland kill made it a 2-0 match (25-22).

Dartmouth came out fighting in the third and soon had a 4-1 lead thanks to a pair of kills by Nagel-Caland and two Lafayette errors. The Big Green remained ahead with the Leopards never far behind until kills by junior Abby Kott (2), Petit and sophomore Mallen Bischoff put more distance between the teams (21-12). Lafayette tried one last push to close the gap, but a Meldrum kill and two of its own errors ended the match (25-17).

Dartmouth vs. BC
Meldrum led the way, this time with six kills, two aces, six digs and five blocks for 10.5 points. Akinwumi had an impressive eight blocks (2 BS, 6 BA), and Liddle was first with 10 digs.

Dartmouth was strong to start set one and jumped out to a 3-1 lead following kills by Meldrum and Liddle and an Eagle error, but BC worked its way back to tie the score at 6-6. Five ties later (14-14), the Eagles started to pull away and soon had a 23-18 advantage. Meldrum got one more kill before BC ended it (25-19).

The Green used Eagle errors at the beginning of set two to take the lead (4-3), but BC quickly pulled away and soon had a 22-13 advantage. Five in a row following two aces by Meldrum, a kill by Liddle and two errors on the other side of the net pulled Dartmouth within four (22-18) and the teams traded points until BC got its 25th with a kill (25-20).

A Meldrum kill, an ace by Petit and a BC error gave the Green a 3-0 lead to start the third set. The teams fought back and forth, tying the score five times in the process. Down by two, a kill by sophomore Leeza Poselski and two errors by the visitors tied the score at 18-18, but the Eagles went on a 7-2 run to end the match (25-20).

Dartmouth will play in two tournaments next weekend, taking on Seton Hall and Hofstra at the latter's Asics Invitational before facing St. Francis (N.Y.) and Fordham at the Rams' Battle of the Big Apple.