Dartmouth Remains Undefeated with 3-1 Win vs. UNH

Friday, September 10

Hanover, N.H.

6:30 PM

Dartmouth College

4-0,0-0Ivy League

UNH

5-4,0-0America East

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
New Hampshire	20	25	16	22	1
Dartmouth	25	23	25	25	3

Sophomore Bomi Ogunlari

Photo by: Doug Austin

Dartmouth Remains Undefeated with 3-1 Win vs. UNH

9/10/2021 9:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photos Photo Gallery

The Big Green volleyball team played at home for the first time since Nov. 16, 2019, winning in front of a huge crowd

By: Charlotte Brackett

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth volleyball opened its home invitational with a 3-1 win (25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22) over UNH on Friday evening.

Ellie Blain led with her 16 kills, while Taite Ryan was first with 20 assists and Makenzie Arent had 26 assists.

"It's great to win your home opener in front of a great student section," head coach Gilad Doron said. "They really helped us. The teams were evenly matched. I think our offense really stepped up, especially in the fourth game. Bomi played well; we needed her and it was good to see. Our team's chemistry keeps growing. The players are settling into their roles and making good choices. We weathered the storm and we are looking forward to tomorrow."

Dartmouth's young starters trailed a few points behind at the beginning of the first set, but an 8-2 run made up of a handful of UNH errors, kills by Blain, Ryan and Amelia Gibbs, and an ace by Karen Murphy gave the Big Green an edge (13-11). Dartmouth didn't let up and, fueled by the overflowing and very enthusiastic student section, held on to their lead (19-16). The teams traded the last few points but kills by Ogunlari and Gibbs gave set one to the Green (25-20).

The Wildcats came out strong in set two, winning all but one of the first five points. UNH kept the momentum going until a 9-2 run – highlighted by aces by Francesca Meldrum, Murphy and Ryan – switched the advantage to Dartmouth (14-13). Three ties later and the visitors started to pull ahead again, but not for long. Down by two, kills by Blain, Gibbs and Ogunlari put the Big Green up by two points (21-19). The Wildcats got three in a row to get to set point and, even though Dartmouth managed to get one point closer, it was UNH that got the win (23-25).

After set two didn't go their way, the Big Green looked completely different to start the third, winning 10 of the first 13 points to take a huge lead early on. Dartmouth never looked back and kills by Ogunlari and Gibbs and an ace by Murphy got it a little bit closer to victory (18-9). UNH started to make a little comeback with its 5-2 rally, but never got closer than six points behind, and a Wildcat error ended it (25-16).

Neither team had control in the fourth, but UNH did have a slight edge, taking advantage of some Dartmouth errors to get ahead (8-6). The Big Green worked their way back thanks to some errors on the other side of the net and kills by Ryan and Blain, tying the score before then moving in front (13-12). Three ties later and with Dartmouth up by one, the Wildcats won three consecutive points to pull ahead (18-16). A 3-1 run thanks to kills by Ogunlari, Blain, Ryan and Natalie Grover closed the gap and tied things up (20-20). The teams traded kills until three kills in a row by Grover gave the Green their first lead in a long while (23-21). Blain delivered the final blow to end the match (25-22).

Dartmouth will be back on Saturday for day two of the invite, playing Holy Cross at 11 a.m. and UConn at 5:30 p.m.