Dartmouth Finishes Weekend Sweep With 3-0 Victory Over Cornell

Saturday, October 28

Hanover, N.H.

5:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-11,5-5Ivy League

Cornell

6-13,4-6Ivy League

Cornell

Dartmouth

Dartmouth Finishes Weekend Sweep With 3-0 Victory Over Cornell

10/28/2023 7:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Ellie Blain’s 10 kills powered the Big Green, while the Big Red were held to a negative hitting percentage

By: Kyle Relf

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth volleyball team needed just an hour and 13 minutes to down Cornell in a speedy 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-11) victory on Saturday evening at Leede Arena, completing a season sweep of the Big Red, along with a weekend sweep following last night's win over Columbia.

Dartmouth improved to 8-11 overall and 5-5 in the Ivy League. Cornell, which entered the match riding the momentum of a five-set win over Harvard, dropped to 6-13 and 4-6 in the Ancient Eight.

The last time the Big Green and Big Red squared off, Dartmouth hit a season-high .340 en route to a straight-set road victory on Sept. 29. Ellie Blain helped the hot hitting continue on Saturday, leading both sides with 10 kills at a .421 clip. Maddie LaFata tallied eight kills with a .467 hitting percentage to bolster the offense. Kauany Gutz led the defensive efforts with a career-best six blocks and Bomi Ogunlari, who played just the third set, put down five. Ellie Mattox led Dartmouth's pair of setters with a career-high 15 assists.

Cornell was held to a negative hitting percentage, a season-low -.010, with 24 errors to 23 kills. The Big Red entered the third set on the positive end, but were stymied with a -0.097 showing in the final game against the Big Green defense.

Dartmouth took control in the opening game with a 6-0 run to set the tone for its efficient sweep. Emma Engstrom capped that six-point stretch with back-to-back service aces to put Dartmouth on top, 14-6. Leading 21-14, the Big Green had Engstrom back on the service line and the junior came up with another ace, in addition to consecutive Blain kills, to close the set.

Set two presented the biggest challenge for Dartmouth in the form of a 5-0 Cornell run, which brought the score to 21-17 in favor of the Big Green. Gibbs and Gutz combined for a block to quell that run, but Cornell picked up another three points to come within two late in the game. Once again, Dartmouth controlled the final points of the set, this time kickstarted by an Ava Roberts kill.

The Big Green never trailed in the third and left no doubt about their second consecutive sweep after making a 10-0 run, which hiked the score to 17-7. That Dartmouth-dominated stretch featured a couple aces from EllaMae Fitzgerald, three kills from LaFata and three blocks by Ogunlari, who would eventually end the match with her fifth block of the set.

Dartmouth will put its two-match win streak to the test against two of the top three teams in the Ivy League. The challenging weekend begins on Friday, Nov. 3 with first-place Yale visiting at 7 p.m. and third-place Brown following on Saturday. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Brandon Bojarsky on the call and live stats will be available through DartmouthSports.com.