Dartmouth Looking to Move up Ivy Standings in 2019

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth volleyball is set to open the 2019 season this weekend at the UNC Asheville Invitational, kicking off the year with its first of three consecutive tournaments.

In the Ivy League preseason poll that was released last week, the Big Green were picked to come in fifth place, which is where they finished in 2018.

"We are very excited to open our 2019 season in Asheville," head coach Gilad Doron said. "We have an opportunity to play on the road with three teams that will test us and give us a chance to learn more about who we are this season. We have some new faces who can make an immediate impact for us this fall, so it will be the first test for them adjusting to our team and college level volleyball. We already have our minds set on our long-term goals and we have depth that will come into play mid-season and during Ivy play."

TEAM BREAKDOWN
The 19-player roster is made up of 14 returnees (four seniors, four juniors, six sophomores) and five freshmen. The team lost solid contributors Zoe Leonard and Samantha Bozoian to graduation.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Top returners in 2019 include:

Sophomore Francesca Meldrum

Wrapped up her freshman year first on the team in block assists (62) and total blocks (72), second in points (172), third in kills (142) and fourth in service aces (10).
Her 1.09 blocks per set puts her fourth in the Dartmouth all-time record book.

Sophomore Nicole Liddle

Was first on the team in kills (168) and kills per set (2.37), tied for third in aces (12) and third in digs (159) as a freshman.
Had two double-doubles (12 kills, 13 digs at Navy; 17 kills, 13 digs at Fordham).

Junior Tola Akinwumi

Ended the 2018 season first in solo blocks (13) and blocks per set (1.18), and third in both block assists (39) and total blocks (52).
Her blocks per set puts her first in the all-time record book.

Senior Carly Tower

Was first on the team in solo blocks (44) and blocks per set (1.10), third in block assists (33) and total blocks (44).
Her 1.10 blocks per set puts her third in the Dartmouth record book.

CLASS OF 2023
Doron added five freshmen to the roster ahead of the 2019 season. Donning the green and white for the first time are Makenzie Arent, Jojo Brown, Taite Ryan, Ali Silva and Grace Wiczek.

2018 IN REVIEW
Last season, the Big Green moved up a spot from the year before to finish in fifth place with a conference mark of 5-9. Dartmouth had some big Ivy wins, taking down Harvard (3-2), Penn (3-0), Brown (3-1, 3-0) and Columbia (3-0).

SCHEDULE
After their three tournaments, the Green will head right into conference action, playing on the road for the first five matches starting on Sept. 28. After that, Dartmouth will be at home for six, playing five Ivy and one non-conference match at Leede from Oct. 18 – Nov. 2.

With those two big stretches of matches done, only five regular season contests will remain. Dartmouth will play its final road matches of the season at Princeton and Penn (Nov. 8-9) before coming back home to host Merrimack for the first time, Columbia and Cornell (Nov. 13-16).

COACHING STAFF
Doron is returning for his fourth season at the helm of the program. He is assisted by Olivia Lathrop, who is in her second season with the program, and Brandon Chan, who comes to Hanover after being a volunteer assistant beach volleyball coach at the University of Arizona.

Schedules