The Dartmouth women's volleyball team improved upon its 14-6 record with a road victory over Central Connecticut State last night. The three game win, 15-8, 17-15, 15-5, was the second time the Big Green has beaten the Blue Devils this season.
Carrying momentum from two huge Ivy League wins this weekend and a seven match winning streak, the team opened the match aggressively, taking the first game 15-8.
"We played strongly while serving tough," Coach Ann Marie Larese said.
Larese came into the match expecting some sort of a letdown after the wins over Penn and Princeton. While the Big Green started strong, her expectations became reality in game two.
Shaky passing hurt Dartmouth, as the Big Green gave point after point away to Central Connecticut. CCSU even had a game point at 11-14, but Dartmouth held strong. After getting a sideout, the team came back with a solid effort to take the game.
"Our serve received tanked in the second game, so we couldn't hit effectively," Larese said.
The team breezed through third game without incident and racked up its 11th win in its last 13 matches.
"We started strong and ended strong," Larese said.
In its first matchup of the season, Dartmouth defeated CCSU in four games at the Dartmouth Invitational. Felicity Kolp '99 came up big with 43 assists and 18 digs during the match, while defensive specialist Maria Stutsman y Marquez '98 racked up 14 digs and eight aces.
On the Ivy League Honor Roll this week for the Big Green is middle blocker Anne Murray '00. Against two time defending league champion Princeton on Saturday, Murray had 15 kills, 10 digs and four blocks in Dartmouth's 3-1 victory.
Dartmouth, 4-1 in the Ivy, shares first place in the league with Harvard. The season will be decided in two weeks with each team playing at Brown and Yale.
Up next for the Big Green is a match this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. against the Crusaders of Holy Cross in Leede Arena -- the last home match of the season.
