It was not a happy end to a four-game homestand for the Dartmouth women's volleyball team yesterday. The University of New Hampshire drubbed the Big Green three games to none (15-7, 15-0, 15-0).
There was never the sense in any of the games that Dartmouth was going to put together a solid enough rally to overcome a bigger, stronger and more athletic UNH squad.
The fundamentals were lacking for Dartmouth, as they surrendered many easy serves and fumbled several dig attempts. In addition, the Big Green were repeatedly blocked on spike attempts to the tune of 17 blocks for UNH with only three for Dartmouth.
Dartmouth was on the defensive all evening. From the opening serve in game one, UNH jumped out to a commanding 10-2 lead behind the strong play of setter Stacy Barnett, MH Jennifer Walker and OH Kim Mirts-Poen.
Barnett led the team with 19 sets in total, while Mirts-Poen had eight kills in 20 attempts and Walker had 7 in 10 attempts. Erin Naipo for Dartmouth had the best percentage of kills in total attempts with 4 kills in 12 attempts total. Jennifer Madsen led the team with a paltry seven kills in three games.
With the loss, Dartmouth falls to 5-7 on the season, while UNH improves its record to 7-7.
Dartmouth's team morale fell after the embarrassing 15-0 showing in game two, and it never recovered in the third game. Despite opening the game with a 4-0 lead on kills by Ashley Dean and Madsen, Dartmouth hurt itself with a service error.
This opened the door for UNH to pummel the Big Green time and again with the lethal Barnett/Mirts-Poen combination. These two hooked up for four separate kills in the game, totally demoralizing the Dartmouth team, which could not defend against the power of Mirts-Poen on her emphatic spikes.
