Dartmouth Drops Two on Saturday

Saturday, September 14

Hanover, N.H.

12:30 PM

Dartmouth College

2-2

Hartford

4-3

Hartford

Dartmouth

Sophomore Nicole Liddle provided 14 kills against Fordham.

Photo by: Doug Austin

9/14/2019 2:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Highlights from Hartford Highlights from Fordham Photos by Doug Austin

Grace Wiczek earned a spot on the all-tournament team

By: Pat Salvas / Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. – After suffering a 3-0 loss to Hartford by scores of 25-12, 25-17 and 25-18 in their second match of the Dartmouth Invitational to start Saturday, the Big Green were unable to salvage their final contest as Fordham held off Dartmouth, 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-20). Freshman outside hitter Grace Wiczek led the Big Green attack with 25 kills in the two matches, including 17 against the Rams, earning a spot on the all-tournament team.

Hofstra (6-3) took home the title with a perfect 3-0 record over the two days, defeating the Green yesterday before knocking off both Fordham and Hartford in four sets today. Fordham (6-3) went 2-1 in its three matches while Hartford (5-4) lost two of three.

"We played three strong teams this weekend, and while we showed flashes of good play, we simply have to get better," head coach Gilad Doron at the conclusion of the event. "We have a lot of young players on the court and that can lead to inconsistency, but we have the talent to make big strides this year."

HARTFORD
The Hawks jumped out to an early lead in the first set and put it out of reach when they turned a 6-3 lead into 16-5 before closing it out at 25-12. Dartmouth was within two in the second set at 13-11 before Hartford rattled off seven of the next eight points en route to a 25-17 win. In the third set, the two teams were tied at 13 when a service error gave the Hawks the lead for good. The Green were still within two at 18-16, but that was as close as it would get with Hartford taking the match with a 25-18 triumph.

Wiczek posted a team-high eight kills while classmate Makenzie Arent dished out 21 assists and sophomore libero Bella Hedley had a team-best 11 digs.

FORDHAM
While Wiczek was racking up her 17 kills with just five errors against the Rams, sophomore Nicole Liddle proved to be solid part of a one-two punch for Dartmouth with 14 kills of her own to go with 25 digs, one shy of Hedley's team-high total.

In the opening set, the Big Green jumped out to the lead and held it until the Rams tied it at eight on a McKenna Lahr kill. The two sides traded a few points before Fordham got back-to-back kills from Kaitlin Morley for a 12-11 lead it would not relinquish.

Dartmouth fell behind at the outset of the second set but rallied to score five straight points on kills from Wiczek (two), Arent and Liddle for a 14-11 advantage. When it got to 16-13, however, the Rams rattle off five straight points of their own to reclaim the lead. Three times the Green closed the gap to one, but they simply could not get over the hump in the 25-22 defeat.

Dartmouth earned its first victory in a set of the tournament thanks to an early run of nine consecutive points as freshman Ali Silva served up a trio of aces. Fordham battled back to within two at 20-18, but the young Big Green squad maintained their composure and tallied the next four points with kills from senior Carly Tower and junior Elise Petit, who also put away the final point of the set for the 25-19 win.

The fourth and final set featured nine ties and three lead changes as neither side led by more than two points until Lahr had a putaway late for a 17-14 edge. Dartmouth surged to within one three more times only to have the Rams pull of six of the last eight points to fend off their hosts.

Dartmouth will get another difficult assignment next weekend at the Dog Pound Challenge hosted by UConn. The Big Green will also play Providence and Holy Cross in the two-day event.