The Dartmouth women's volleyball team moved its record to 7-4 with a win in three games over Northeastern last night. Relying on a rejuvenated offense, the Big Green won 15-6, 15-5, 15-11.
The team dominated the Huskies from the opening game, rattling off strings of six and five points in the first game.
The second and third games went by almost as flawlessly with outside hitter Janna Merryfield '00 capping off the second game with a Husky- deflating kill.
Closing out the third game with a strong performance was Paige Perry '00, whose kills generated two sideouts and two points that ran the Huskies out of town with their tails between their legs.
To combat the Huskies slow style of play, Coach Ann Marie Larese had her team increase the tempo. "We pressed the pace of the match," she said.
After four matches this weekend where Larese described the offense as "sputtering," she termed last night's serving and hitting as "aggressive." Indeed, Dartmouth completed almost 40 percent of its kill opportunities, higher than in any of its previous three games.
The Big Green's dominating play early allowed for the substitution of several freshman players, including Merryfield, who finished with 10 kills and a team high 15 digs.
Setter Felicity Kolp '99, who was named to the Ivy honor roll earlier this week for her outstanding performance at last weekend's Dartmouth Invitational, finished with 38 assists.
Playing for a sick Latia Curry '98, middle blocker Emily Ramee '00 provided a strong effort with seven blocks and six kills.
"Emily really picked it up when we needed her," Larese said.
Northeastern Coach Ernest Tche complimented the Big Green's outside hitters.
"When we were blocking the line they were taking the angle, and when we blocked the angle they hit down the line," he said.
Alison McKinley '99, who leads Dartmouth with 187 kills and 157 digs for the season, finished the night with 11 kills, and is looking forward to the next match.
"It was a great warm-up for Friday's Harvard match," McKinley said.
The Big Green will play host to the Harvard Crimson in Leede arena at 7:00 p.m. Friday, in their first meeting of the season. Fairfield and Long Island University come to town for matches on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., respectively.
