Big Green Best Harvard 3-0 for Third Straight Win

Friday, October 21

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

13-5,5-3Ivy League

Harvard

4-12,3-5Ivy League

Harvard

Dartmouth

Ellie Blain ’24

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Big Green Best Harvard 3-0 for Third Straight Win

10/21/2022 9:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights

Ellie Blain led an all-around effort with a career-best hitting percentage

By: Kyle Relf

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (30-28, 25-14, 25-14) victory over Harvard Friday evening at Leede Arena as the program hosted its annual Dig Pink match in support of breast cancer awareness.

The Big Green (13-5, 5-3) looked like they may have been in store for their first five-set match of the season after a lengthy opener, but went on to earn double-digit victories over the Crimson (4-12, 3-5) in the second and third sets.

Ellie Blain led a well-rounded Dartmouth offense with 12 kills, along with a career-high .571 hitting percentage. Piper Stevens enjoyed an efficient night as well, hitting .353 with seven kills along with a career-best five blocks. Harvard hit just .077 against the Big Green's strong defensive effort. It was the first time since 2017 Dartmouth has held an Ivy League opponent under .100.

"I'm really proud of the team for battling through the first set," head coach Gilad Doron said. "We executed our gameplan as well as we can in the second and third sets. Collectively, we had one of our better matches of the year."

Stevens' back-to-back winners lifted Dartmouth over Harvard in a marathon first set, the longest one the Big Green have played all season. Stevens' kills were virtually the only separation either side was able to gain in a set that featured 23 ties. The two conference foes battled well past the 25 mark until Stevens and company eventually came up with the crucial swings for a 30-28 victory. Both sides combined for 85 attacks in the action-packed stanza with Dartmouth hitting .279 to Harvard's .214.

Dartmouth flexed its muscle in the second set, taking control in the early points and barely looking back on its way to a 25-14 victory. The Big Green led 16-11 before Amelia Gibbs, Blain and Taite Ryan strung together consecutive kills. After a couple Harvard errors, their lead had ballooned to double digits. Another three-kill run capped the game – this time it was Stevens, Ryan and finally Bomi Ogunlari at set point.

The Big Green picked up where they left off and were able to close things out, securing a second consecutive three-set win over an Ivy League opponent. After taking control with a three-point run capped by another Stevens kill, Dartmouth held an early 11-4 advantage and later swung momentum even further in its favor with a four-point run to bring the score to 19-7. Gibbs' late kill was followed by Harvard's attack error at match point.

Dartmouth travels to Penn for another Ivy League clash Friday, Oct. 28. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.