The streak could not last forever. After winning eight of its last nine games, the women's volleyball went 0-2 this past weekend.
The team fell to defending Ivy League champion Princeton and to the University of Pennsylvania, dropping Dartmouth's record to 10-5 for the season.
"I think this weekend was a very good learning experience for the team," Captain Carmen Schmitt said.
On Friday night, the Tigers pounced upon the Big Green and took three consecutive games, 9-15, 5-15, 5-15.
Princeton's outside hitter Ayesha Attoh tallied 11 kills for her team to help propel the Tigers to victory.
On the other side of the net, outside hitter Alison McKinley '99 and setter Felicity Kolp '99 maintained Dartmouth's game. McKinley posted eight kills and seven digs. Kolp added three digs to the team total and had 21 assists.
"I think we have realized that other team, such as Princeton are tough, but not superhuman," Schmitt said. "Now we know what level of play other teams are at, and we know that we have to play at our level and beyond to beat other teams."
After losing in the first game of the weekend, Dartmouth traveled on to Pennsylvania where they battled the Quakers. Dartmouth was not easily defeated on this day and took the match to five games.
Reminiscent of the Bucknell game one week earlier, Dartmouth gave the first game of the match to the opposing team, 8-15. However, unlike the Bucknell game, in which Dartmouth came back and won the second game, Dartmouth dropped the second game to Penn, 14-16.
The Big Green had been up in the second game 14-11, but were unable to finish off the game.
A revival from Dartmouth appeared during the third game and continued through to the fourth game. Dartmouth captured both of these games, 15-4, 15-7, respectively, keeping the team alive for the final game.
The momentum for the Dartmouth side proved not to be enough to carry Dartmouth through the final game and the Quakers prevailed, 12-15 giving them the match.
"We had a very slow start," Schmitt said. "It took us two games to get up to the level which we normally play at. This is what we have to work on throughout the season -- starting the first game with a bang and then ending the match in the next two games."
Dartmouth will look to use this strategy tonight when they travel to Holy Cross for a 7:00 p.m. game.
"The Holy Cross game will be a confidence builder," Schmitt said. "In this match we will be looking to get a lot of people into the match, especially since a couple of players have to take some different roles."
