Big Green Roll to 3-0 Win at Cornell

Friday, September 29

Ithaca, N.Y. / Newman Arena

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

4-7,1-1Ivy League

Cornell

3-8,1-1Ivy League

Dartmouth

Cornell

Photo by: Kyle Relf

9/29/2023 9:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Dartmouth was remarkably efficient in its first Ivy League win of the season

By: Kyle Relf

ITHACA, N.Y. — The Dartmouth volleyball team rolled to a dominant 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-18) road victory over Cornell for its first Ivy League win of the season Friday evening at Newman Arena.

Dartmouth improved to 4-7 (1-1 Ivy League) and Cornell dropped to 3-8 (1-1 Ivy League).

A season-best .340 hitting percentage powered the Big Green in the sweep. Ellie Blain, Bomi Ogunlari and Kauany Gutz each had nine or more kills and hit better than .300, while Amelia Gibbs went for seven kills on just 11 attempts for a staggering .636 hitting percentage. Blain, in addition to her nine kills, led the team with nine digs. Makenzie Arent primarily directed the offense with 23 assists and now has at least 20 in three straight matches.

"We've been working hard all week on playing aggressively and mindfully, and we accomplished that tonight," said head coach Kevin Maureen Campbell, who earned her first Ivy League win. "We'll look to challenge ourselves to play with this intensity again tomorrow."

The Big Green pulled away down the stretch in the opening set, thanks in part to an early 5-0 run – all from Big Red hitting errors – that handed Dartmouth an 11-7 lead. Back-to-back kills by Ellie Blain helped the Big Green further that momentum after a Cornell kill out of a timeout. A 3-0 run, which included a Bomi Ogunlari kill and an ace from Karen Murphy, allowed the Big Green a six-point edge (20-14). Cornell's Doga Ozalp committed a service error at set point to seal the game for Dartmouth.

Dartmouth made quick work of Cornell in the second set, hitting better than .600 with 21 kills on 33 swings and just one error. The Big Green never made a run of more than three points, but wouldn't relinquish their lead after jumping to a 3-2 advantage with a block from Gutz and Ogunlari. Three straight kills, one from Maddie LaFata and two from Ava Roberts, gave Dartmouth a 13-6 edge. Later, another trio of kills courtesy of LaFata, Blain and Gutz gave the visitors a commanding 19-10 lead. Amelia Gibbs and Roberts hammered consecutive winners to close out the dominant set.

An early 11-0 Big Green run, which featured back-to-back kills by Gutz, was the story of the third set. Dartmouth led 11-2 following that stretch and the lead would never shrink under six for the remainder, despite a four-point Big Red spurt. Consecutive kills by Gibbs and Gutz helped Dartmouth continue to hold off Cornell down the stretch, and it was Camryn Carlo's service error that ended the match.

Looking for a weekend sweep, the Big Green travel to Columbia for a 5 p.m. tilt on Saturday. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available through DartmouthSports.com. Fans can catch Dartmouth in action back at Leede Arena next weekend with Penn (Friday, Oct. 6) and Princeton (Saturday, Oct. 7) coming to town.