After a tough first-year varsity season last year, in which it went 2-18, the women's volleyball team has had a fresh start. After five games this season, the team stands 3-2.
To top that off, the team pulled off its first home win ever last Tuesday, September 12. Dartmouth challenged Northeastern University to take them in a decisive 3-0 victory.
This victory, with scores of 15-13, 15-9 and 15-5, clashed heavily with still recent memories of last season's contests with Northeastern, in which the scores were reversed and the Huskies defeated the Big Green 3-0 twice.
Freshmen outside hitters Alison McKinley and Emily Hallenbeck led the Big Green's offense with strong hitting.
Northeastern's loss lowered its record to 1-4 for the season.
Dartmouth began its season with a bang as well, placing third out of five teams in the Bucknell Tournament back on September 8 and 9. The Big Green went 2-2 in the tournament, defeating both St. Peter's and St. Francis.
In the first game of the tournament, Dartmouth faced the home team, Bucknell, and was defeated in three games, 15-13, 15-1, 15-13. Coach Ann Marie Larese expressed no concern with the loss, citing the close scores on two of the three games.
Dartmouth returned in the second game with a clean slate, and found the opportunity to notch its first win for the season in a match against St. Peter's.
"It was great the way the team could come back and win immediately after a loss," Larese commented.
On Saturday, the team took on St. Francis. The results again were good, and Dartmouth found itself sitting on top of its second win, 3-0.
This left Dartmouth with a chance to tie for first place in the tournament if it could pull off another win in the final game. The Big Green could not make that commitment, however, and lost to St. Bonnie's in four games, 3-1.
"St. Bonnie's is a really scrappy team," Larese said of the match. "We were close with them the whole time but they just kept pushing."
And so Dartmouth will continue to play hard this season, hoping to improve even further beyond last year's record. The talent of the freshman class should help the team toward this goal.
Of its 11 players, Dartmouth has been starting five freshmen, Erin Clarke, Hallenbeck,Danra Kazenski, Felicity Kolp and McKinley, and one senior, Kai Enos. Captain Carmen Schmitt '96 has been sharing time with Enos playing back row.
So while the team may not have the experience to rely on in its starting line-up, it does have talent and depth. "We have strong servers and passers this year," Larese said. "That's helped us stay in matches and win matches. This year we also have depth on the bench. The longer the season goes, the stronger they will get."
"We're going to play up and down at first," Larese said. "That's just the way you play at first. But by six or seven weeks into the season, you're going to see a higher level of play."
Dartmouth's next match will be in the first-ever Dartmouth Invitational to be held this Friday and Saturday.
The tournament will consist of two pools of three teams. The first pool will include Fairfield University, the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth, while the second pool will have St. John's, Iona College and Merrist.
On Saturday, after first round play in which each team will play two games, one against each of the other teams in its pool, the two third place teams will face each other. This match will be followed by the semifinals at 1:00 p.m. and the finals at 3:00 p.m. in Leede Arena.
