In the past week, the women's volleyball team played Northeastern, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. They lost all three matches, which leaves the Big Green with a 1-6 record overall and a 0-2 record in the league.
The disappointing week began with the team traveling to Northeastern University last Tuesday, where they were defeated 15-2, 15-5 and 15-7.
Dartmouth's inability to capitalize on the beginning of the match hurt the team for the remainder of the game. "We started the match slow, giving away the first five points on serve receive errors," captain Candice Jimerson '95 said.
Defense was also a problem throughout the match for the Big Green, beginning right from the start. "They dominated the offensive side of the game," Jimerson said. "We tried to stay in the first game by playing tough defense, but our defense wasn't good enough [Tuesday] night to keep us there."
Head Coach Ann Marie Larese agreed with Jimerson. "We couldn't keep up with Northeastern's speed of attack. They had a very good lefty, and their middle attack was very strong," she said.
Dartmouth middle blocker Kai Enos '96 significantly helped out the team, coming up with four kills, four digs and three assists in blocking. Jimerson, a middle blocker, also had four kills and digs, while outside hitters Stasia Bochnowski '98 and Carmen Schmitt '97 had five digs each.
"The game would have been a good opportunity to gain some self-confidence. Northeastern is inconsistent. Next time will be different. We'll know how they play," Larese said. The team will have its next opportunity to play Northeastern Oct. 25 at Leede Arena.
On Friday night, Leede Arena saw the Dartmouth women's volleyball team's first-ever Ivy League match. Despite increased fan support at the home court, the team still could not put together its skills to pull off a win against Princeton. The Tigers routed the Big Green 15-7, 15-4, 15-5, giving them a 3-0 record in the Ivy League and a 7-2 record overall.
According to Larese, the team started out well and was able to establish a good flow for the game. But the second game, the team had a difficult time with its offense. "We couldn't put our skills together," she said.
"Some of Dartmouth's points were brilliant. We were slowing down their game, but the breaks between those times hurt us. They scored a lot of points during those breaks," Larese said after the game. "We can't give Princeton that type of chance. We needed to capitalize on their mistakes," she said.
"Our defense has been getting better. We're making them earn their points," Jimerson said.
One thing that has not helped the team is the absence of middle blocker Janene Ashford '97. Ashford is out with mono for an indefinite amount of time.
"[Ashford's absence] really hurt our right side blocking. We had no depth in that position," Larese said.
Starting setter Amanda Wayne '96 played a great game. "She distributed the ball very well," said Larese. Unfortunately, the team was unable to get the ball to her consistently.
On Saturday, Dartmouth played its third game of the week against Penn at Leede Arena. Penn beat Dartmouth 15-3, 15-8, 15-9.
The first game of the match went very slowly for Dartmouth. The team had several opportunities to score, but players were unable to use the serves to their advantage.
According to Larese, some changes had to be made to accommodate the Quakers' offense. Penn's setter allowed the Quakers to show off their ability to move the ball around a lot.
The second game went better than the first, but the team was still having trouble on its serve receive. "We are still struggling with our serve receive and trying to find four players who can pass all the time," Larese said.
The team also had difficulty with its serving. "Our serving game was all over the place. We made a lot of mistakes," Larese commented.
In the third game of the match, Dartmouth put the pressure on Penn coming back from a 0-7 deficit to bring the score to 7-8 (with Penn still leadi9ng). But serve receive and service errors pushed the team back again, allowing Penn take the lead and win the game and the match.
Penn's middle hitter, Jennifer Law, helped her team out with many kills, while middle hitter Susan Pojedinec was able to place several tips over the net.
Some of the Dartmouth players' problems are their tendency to hesitate before going for the ball, service errors and needless errors, such as touching the net and slipping under it.
"We still hesitate on a lot of the balls. We haven't found six people who will go 100 percent for them," Larese said.
Jimerson agreed."As a team we are having a tough time playing a consistent game with fire and desire all the way through," she said. "We need to be more confident in our play."Margaret Feeney, Penn's head coach, commented on the Dartmouth player. "Jimerson really has a great attitude. She got the whole team working hard. She has the heart and desire you need to play."
