Big Green Swept by Ivy League Champion Yale

Friday, November 3

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

8-12,5-6Ivy League

Yale

16-3,11-0Ivy League

Yale

Dartmouth

Ellie Blain women's volleyball action versus Princeton

Ellie Blain ’24

Photo by: Chloe Broeker

11/3/2023 10:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Bulldogs hit .350 on their way to clinching a share of the Ivy League title

By: Kyle Relf

HANOVER, N.H. — A Friday night matchup with first-place Yale at Leede Arena presented an opportunity for the Dartmouth volleyball team, but the Bulldogs were too strong in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-14) sweep.

Yale, now the back-to-back Ivy League champion after clinching at least a share of the title on Friday evening, improved to 16-3 overall and remained unbeaten in the Ancient Eight at 11-0. Dartmouth, still battling for an Ivy League Tournament berth, dropped to 8-12 and 5-6 in the conference with only three matches remaining in the regular season.

The swinging of Betsy Goodenow presented problems for the Big Green as the first-year went for 15 kills on just 24 attempts (.542). Audrey Leak followed with an efficient 10 kills at a .318 clip. Yale hit .350 as a team and held Dartmouth to .133, despite Ellie Blain's team-high nine kills and .412 hitting percentage. Maile Somera and Carly Diehl both amassed double-digit digs for the Bulldogs, while Emma Engstrom led the Big Green with 10.

Aside from surrendering the first point of the match with a blocking error, Yale led wire-to-wire and took control early with a 5-0 run. Dartmouth was able to string together points sporadically throughout the set, but couldn't make the run that was needed to challenge the champions. Back-to-back Bulldog kills, followed by an Arya Jue ace, sealed the opener.

Tied 9-9 after three straight Dartmouth points, the Big Green looked to have found their footing in the second set, but lost momentum as Yale picked up seven of eight points to run the score to 20-13. A couple Bulldog hitting errors helped Dartmouth climb to 20 at set point before Goodenow's winner delivered the commanding 2-0 edge.

Yale hit a match-high .378 in the third, and like the first, never trailed after dropping the first point. Consecutive Piper Stevens aces helped give Dartmouth some life as part of a 3-0 run (14-11), but that spurt was outdone by Yale's 7-0 run. A couple Ava Roberts kills, which stopped the bleeding, weren't enough to spark a comeback. Three straight Yale kills ended the match.

After seeing its brief two-match win streak come to an end, Dartmouth hosts Brown on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. The Big Green will honor their five seniors prior to the start of the match, and all the action will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Brandon Bojarsky on the call.