The Dartmouth Women's volleyball team continued its tear through its northeastern competition with a 17-15, 15-6, 16-14 victory over the University of Vermont on Sunday.
The Big Green's eighth victory in a row tied a team record set last year.
"Everyone has really concentrated on their part, but at the same time knowing we have to work together as a team," Felicity Kolp '99 said. "We've achieved a higher level of cohesiveness because of the combination of those two factors."
The match was the second meeting in the last week between the two teams, and for the second week in a row the Big Green (9-2) flaunted their dominating outside hitting combination of Janna Merryfield '00 and Anne Murray '00, each of whom landed 10 kills on the afternoon.
But the junior standouts were shadowed by Dartmouth newcomer Ashley Dean '02, who led the team with 13 kills.
"Ashley's passing was so good that she put herself in a better position to end points by going up against only one blocker," head coach Ann Marie Larese said.
The Big Green got off to a shaky start with 19 kills, but committed seven errors on attack in the first game. Dartmouth managed to turn the tables on the Catamounts in the second game, when UVM posted a meager .029 hitting percentage as a result of 11 errors on attack.
The Big Green continued their assault on the weary Catamounts (0-12) in the third game, forcing Vermont to commit 10 more errors on attack.
"We have a really solid core that revolves around the '00s," Emily Hallenbeck '99 said of the Big Green's stellar start to the season. "They've been around for three seasons now, and were showing just how tight this team is."
Dartmouth gears up this week for the opening of its Ivy League season with road matches against Columbia and Cornell on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The two matches are five of the seven Ivy League contests that the Big Green will play on the road this year.
"This weekend is really important as far as setting a tone how we will come off the bus, or out of a hotel and being ready to play," Kolp said.
"We really have to play our game and have high energy with a lot of talk to get everyone into the flow of things and not take a long time to wake up," Kolp added.
Larese is focusing on three strategic goals: playing strong serve-receive, showing a good effort to get second chances and tough serving.
"In the past Columbia has been weak, but we can't go into our weekend matches with that attitude," Hallenbeck said. "They have a couple of really strong freshmen which have turned them into a real Ivy this year. We need to be prepared for that."
