Volleyball Battles Back From Two Sets Down to Push Harvard to Five for the Second Time this Season

Saturday, October 24

Hanover, N.H.

3:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-11,1-7Ivy League

Harvard

14-3,5-3Ivy League

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Harvard	25	25	24	22	15	3
Dartmouth	23	14	26	25	11	2

International Stream

10/24/2026 8:52:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

HANOVER, N.H. – For the second time this season, the Dartmouth volleyball team took Harvard the distance. The Big Green battled back from a two-set deficit to force a fifth set on Saturday afternoon at Leede Arena before falling to the Crimson, 3-2 (23-25, 14-25, 26-24, 25-22, 11-15). Dartmouth moves to 7-11 overall and 1-7 in Ivy League play, while Harvard improves to 14-3 and 5-3.

Zori Brown led all players with 19 kills and 20.5 points, adding nine digs and a service ace. Jaida Cekic posted 11 kills, five total blocks and nine digs for 13.5 points, and Maddie LaFata matched her with 11 kills on .286 hitting for 12.0 points. Elle McCreery added eight kills and three total blocks, Irmak Makasci chipped in seven kills, including the final two of the fourth set, and Clementine Tebbe anchored the net with a team-high eight total blocks. Sophia Gagnepain ran the offense with 28 assists, 13 digs and two aces, Audrey Kalorin added 15 assists and 12 digs, and Sloan Balsley finished with 12 digs and two aces.

Dartmouth out-blocked Harvard 11-6 and dug up 75 balls, a defensive effort that kept the Big Green in long rallies all afternoon against one of the top teams in the Ivy League.

The first set showed Dartmouth's fight early. Harvard built a 14-7 lead, but Gagnepain went to the service line and the Big Green rattled off eight straight points. Cekic put down back-to-back kills, a Brown and Tebbe block got the run going, and Brown finished it with three kills in a row to give Dartmouth a 15-14 lead. The set was tied nine times, and the Big Green went ahead 23-22 on a Tebbe and Cekic block and a Harvard attack error, but the Crimson scored the final three points to take it, 25-23.

Harvard pulled away in the second set behind an eight-point service run that turned a 5-5 tie into a 13-5 lead. Dartmouth kept swinging, with Brown, LaFata and McCreery each finding kills, and Tebbe recorded two blocks in the set, but Harvard held on for a 25-14 win and a 2-0 match lead.

Facing elimination, the Big Green responded with their best volleyball of the day. The third set featured 15 ties and neither team led by more than two points. Brown put down a kill and served an ace to make it 8-6, and Cekic and LaFata kept Dartmouth in front through the middle of the set. After Harvard tied it at 20, Brown and LaFata put down kills and Gagnepain served an ace to make it 23-21. The Crimson answered to tie it at 23 and 24, but Brown came through with a kill for a 24-23 lead, Makasci answered a Harvard kill with one of her own for set point, and McCreery put it away for a 26-24 win.

The fourth set brought the comeback of the match. Harvard led 18-13, but Dartmouth refused to go away. Brown started the rally with a kill, LaFata added back-to-back kills with McCreery serving, and Gagnepain's ace and a Harvard attack error tied it at 19. The teams traded points through 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22, with Cekic putting down kills to tie it twice. Kalorin then went to the service line and the Big Green closed out the set on three straight points, a Harvard attack error followed by back-to-back kills from Makasci, to win 25-22. Dartmouth finished the set on a 12-4 run to force a fifth.

Harvard jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the decisive set, but the Big Green kept fighting. LaFata recorded three kills in the set to help cut the deficit, and after a Cekic kill made it 9-12, Cekic and Tebbe combined for a block and Balsley served an ace to pull Dartmouth within 11-13. Harvard scored the final two points to close out the match, 15-11.

Brown was the centerpiece of the Dartmouth attack all afternoon, recording 19 kills on 49 swings and coming up with clutch kills in both sets the Big Green won, including the go-ahead kill late in the third. Cekic was a force on both sides of the net, combining 11 kills with five total blocks and nine digs, while LaFata provided steady offense with 11 kills, including three in the fifth. Tebbe was the key to the Big Green's 11-6 advantage at the net, getting a hand on eight blocks, and Makasci came through when it mattered most with the final two kills of the fourth. In the back row, Gagnepain (13), Kalorin (12) and Balsley (12) each reached double-digit digs, and Gagnepain's 28 assists and two aces sparked two of Dartmouth's biggest runs of the match.

Up Next Dartmouth closes out its homestand next weekend, hosting Yale on Friday, Oct. 30, at 6:00 p.m. and Brown on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 5:00 p.m. at Leede Arena.