Dartmouth Falls to Temple and Morgan State

Friday, September 1

Baltimore, Md. / Hill Field House

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

0-1

Temple

5-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Temple	25	24	25	22	15	3
Dartmouth	14	26	11	25	8	2

Kauany Gutz ’26

Photo by: Scott Serio

9/1/2023 10:06:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Temple Box Score (PDF)Morgan State Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

The Big Green battled the Owls in a five-setter and succumbed to the Bears in four

By: Kyle Relf

BALTIMORE — The Dartmouth volleyball team dropped its opening two matches of the season on Friday in Baltimore, losing a five-set (25-14, 24-26, 25-11, 22-25, 15-8) nailbiter to Temple before a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19-25-23, 25-19) defeat at the hands of the host, Morgan State.

The Big Green saw an 0-2 start to the season, while Temple and Morgan State improved to 5-0 and 1-4, respectively.

"There were ups and downs, and we are learning to work as a team," said head coach Kevin Maureen Campbell, who coached her first Dartmouth matches on Friday. "We learned a lot about how to handle pressure and we have some things to improve. We have several young players learning some new roles and I'm excited to see how we fit it all together."

TEMPLE 3, DARTMOUTH 2
The two sides traded sets until Temple escaped with a five-set victory (25-14, 24-26, 25-11, 22-25, 15-8) in Friday's opener. The Big Green claimed the fourth set to stay alive, but were unable to hold off the Owls in the deciding game.

Bomi Ogunlari led a balanced Dartmouth contingent with nine kills and four blocks —both team-highs. Makenzie Arent filled the stat sheet with 15 digs, tying Emma Engstrom for the team-lead, in addition to 21 assists and a pair of aces. Temple was powered by Taylor Davenport's match-high 24 kills, plus another 12 from Princeton transfer and former Ivy League First Team honoree Avery Luoma.

Temple rolled to a 25-14 triumph, but Dartmouth stuck back with a narrow 26-24 victory in the second. The Big Green faced set point at 24-21, but a five-point run kickstarted by Amelia Gibbs' kill helped the Big Green avoid an early two-set deficit. Gibbs, who owns two of the three highest single-season hitting percentages in program history, would finish the match with six kills on a team-best .400 clip.

The Owls regained their footing with a dominant third set, but the Big Green led start-to-finish in the ensuing game. A fast start to the fourth had Dartmouth on top, 10-4, after one of Ogunlari's nine kills. Temple's run while facing set point, which pulled the Owls within two, was quelled by Gibbs' set-deciding winner.

Dartmouth picked up the opening point in the fifth, but surrendered the next four and despite back-to-back Kauany Gutz kills, couldn't recover in a 15-8 decision.

MORGAN STATE 3, DARTMOUTH 1
Dartmouth claimed the opening set, but was kept out of the win column after faltering in the next three. Ava Roberts racked up a match-high 14 kills and Natalie Grover added 10, while Makenzie Arent directed the offense to the tune of 28 assists to lead all setters. Makila Billingsley, Justyus Jackson and Ainara Fernandes each tallied double-digit kills for Morgan State.

Tied 23-23 in the first set, Roberts came up with consecutive kills to seal Dartmouth's early edge. The Big Green compiled a .344 hitting percentage in the opening game, but couldn't sustain its offensive success, unable to clear .200 in the final three.

The momentum looked to continue into the second set when Dartmouth held a 4-0 edge after Gutz's ace. The lead would survive until Morgan State found itself with a 16-15 advantage. A Gibbs ace helped the Big Green regroup later on, but the final three points of the set would side with the Bears.

A mid-set four-point Morgan State run proved costly for Dartmouth in the third and culminated in the Big Green facing an 11-9 deficit. Karen Murphy's ace, one of Dartmouth's 10, helped the visitors regain the lead, 18-17, and points were traded before a strong of Bear kills — two from Gabriela Hiciano — closed the game. Morgan State went on to lead wire-to-wire in the fourth, clinching the 3-1 victory.

Dartmouth is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 2 at noon, taking on Towson in a true road match to close the Morgan State/Towson Invitational. The match will be streamed on FloSports and live stats will be available via DartmouthSports.com. The Big Green are home for the first time in 2023 next weekend to host the Dartmouth Invitational, which begins Friday, Sept. 8 at Leede Arena.