Big Green End Weekend with Win Over Wildcats

Saturday, October 26

Hanover, N.H.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-11, 2-6Ivy League

New Hampshire

14-6,4-1America Eas

New Hampshire

Dartmouth

Freshman Grace Wiczek

Photo by: Doug Austin

10/26/2019 7:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Charlotte Brackett

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth volleyball team ended the weekend with a 2-0 record following a 3-1 win over New Hampshire (21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-23).

Sophomore Francesca Meldrum and junior Elise Petit both ended the night with 14 points. Meldrum also had eight kills, two aces, six total blocks and four digs, while Petit recorded nine kills, one assist, two aces, four blocks and 14 digs. Freshman Makenzie Arent had a double-double with 37 assists and 13 digs, while classmate Grace Wiczek had a team-leading 12 kills and was a close second with 13 points.

"I thought this was a hard-fought battle, especially after dropping the first game," head coach Gilad Doron said. "We're really starting to see sparks of playing together and playing better. We made some really good plays down the stretch and that will help us later in the season. Makenzie did a nice job offensively, Grace had timely kills and Taite played a great game. We had different contributions from different players and it was really nice to have a weekend sweep and to beat our in-state rival."

The Wildcats (14-6) jumped out to a 4-0 lead at the start of the first set, but the Big Green (7-11) worked their way back until they were only down by one (12-11). A 3-1 run following a kill by Wiczek and two UNH errors gave Dartmouth its first lead of the set (14-13).  The teams traded every single point, tying seven times before the Wildcats pulled away to get the win (25-21).

UNH had another strong start and had a 6-1 edge, but a 13-4 Dartmouth run following some Wildcat errors, kills by freshman Taite Ryan, junior Tola Akinwumi, and Petit, and blocks by Meldrum and Arent put the Green ahead (14-10). UNH had a 5-1 rally of its own to tie the score at 15-15. After another tie at 18-18, an ace by Petit, a kill and block by Akinwumi, and a Ryan kill, Dartmouth had a two-point lead (22-20).  The Big Green won the last three points to take the set (25-20).

The start of the third set went in Dartmouth's favor and the home team soon had a 9-4 advantage.  UNH got back in the game, but the Green had 7-1 rally thanks to kills by Ryan, Petit and Arent, and some Wildcat errors to put some distance between the teams (17-8). With Dartmouth up, 20-11, three straight blocks, an ace by Meldrum and a kill by Wiczek made it set point (24-12). UNH got two points closer before a Petit kill ended it (25-14).

The Wildcats had a 5-0 edge at the beginning of the fourth, but the Big Green chipped away at that lead, capitalizing on UNH errors and an ace by Petit to tie things up (9-9). After one more tie, the visitors got a boost and moved ahead, 14-10, and, even though the teams were very even, they managed to stay ahead (22-19).  Dartmouth came alive at the end to win the last six points off kills by Meldrum and Wiczek and some UNH errors to win the match (25-23).

The Big Green will close their six-match homestand next weekend when they host Yale and Brown.