Big Green Suffer Loss to Yale in Straight Sets

Friday, November 1

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-12,2-7Ivy League

Yale

12-6,8-1Ivy League

Yale

Dartmouth

Junior Elise Petit

Photo by: Matt and John Risley (Risley Sports)

Big Green Suffer Loss to Yale in Straight Sets

11/1/2019 8:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Dartmouth succumbed to one of the three Ivy League leaders

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Going up against one of the three teams tied atop the Ivy League standings, the Dartmouth volleyball team suffered a loss in straight sets to Yale on Friday night at Leede Arena, 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-16). Junior Elise Petit was the best weapon for Dartmouth (7-12, 2-7 Ivy) with six kills and a pair of block assists.

Rebekah Nemeth led the attack for visiting Yale (12-6, 8-1 Ivy) with 11 kills and nary an error in 18 attempts as the Bulldogs posted a .320 attack percentage as a team. Samantha Bray had four blocks while Kathryn Attar provided eight kills of her own to go with 10 digs.

"Yale came more prepared and determined to win," head coach Gilad Doron said. "They showed why they compete for the Ivy championship every year. We can learn from this experience by matching their focus and attention to detail. We need to be more aggressive as well, and serving and passing better."

The Big Green kept it close in the opening set, tying the score at eight apiece on a Taite Ryan kill, and again at 11-all as Nicole Liddle provided a block sandwiched between a pair of her kills. But when Dartmouth narrowed the deficit to a single point at 15-14, Yale took control by winning seven of the next eight points.

In the second set, the Green quickly grabbed a 5-2 lead on the strength of kills by Tola Akinwumi, Jael Campbell, Liddle and Francesca Meldrum. The Bulldogs sank their teeth in with six consecutive kills, only to have Dartmouth come right back and take a four-point lead at 15-11, capped by a Petit ace.

It was Yale's turn to rally, however, as the Elis claimed nine of the next 10 points. Liddle helped Dartmouth fight back with consecutive kills, but the Bulldogs put the set away with the help of three Nemeth kills.

Yale jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set, yet the Big Green were not ready to go quietly, as they battled back to go up, 8-7, on four straight points of their own as Carly Tower and Akinwumi each had a kill and teamed up to block a Bulldog spike. Back and forth the two sides continued with the score being knotted at eight, nine, 10 and 11. Nemeth broke the spell with another kill for a 13-11 Yale advantage, though Dartmouth closed the gap to one twice, the last time on an Akinwumi kill to make it 14-13.

The rest of the set belonged to the Bulldogs as Yale ripped off six straight points and did not look back to defeat Dartmouth for the ninth consecutive time.

As a team, the Big Green collectively had a .149 attack percentage with five blocks, 44 digs and a pair of service aces. Annemarie Horn had 16 assists while Bella Hedley led the defensive effort with 11 digs and Liddle matched Petit's six kills on the night.

Dartmouth returns to the court at Leede Arena tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. when the Brown Bears (11-8, 3-6 Ivy) come to town after surviving a five-set thriller with Harvard this evening.