The Dartmouth women's volleyball team (8-11) took on Boston College Wednesday in a hard-fought, but relatively one-sided game. In the best-of-five series Dartmouth was swept 3-0, and was devastated by both an inability to spike the ball past the BC defenders and also a series of mental lapses.
Early on in the first game Dartmouth and BC both came out with intensity. The game was relatively close, with BC clinging to a 9-7 lead.
As the back and forth action continued Ashley Dean '02 slowly began to make her presence felt with a series of stuffs, picks, and saves. Still it was a struggle for the Big Green to get anything going.
Rally after rally the ball seemed to be bouncing the Eagles' way. Slowly they began to pull away.
Dartmouth battled back with a series of picks and slams to tie the score at 13-13. A mistake up front cost the Big Green a point, and a missed slam by Stephanie Feldman '04 gave BC a 1-0 lead.
Miscommunication and a fired up BC crew saw the Eagles jump out to a quick 5-0 lead in the second game. After taking a time-out, Dartmouth lost its serve on a very controversial point.
After a ferocious slam by Erin Naipo '02, the Big Green began to huddle up in celebration. To everyone's surprise, a BC player had apparently saved the ball. With the Dartmouth team not paying attention, BC had its easiest side-out of the game.
With the lead at 7-0 Dartmouth looked to the serve of Chelsea Morgan '04 to guide its ship. Four points later, Dartmouth was back in the game.
After a time-out, BC regained its intensity and began to show its dominance. A shocked Dartmouth team put up little fight, and the second game ended 15-4
Intent on not being swept on home turf, the Big Green came out strong in the third game to the tune of a 4-0 lead. BC's front three were simply too good to contain -- they began to stuff and slam the Big Green.
After a series of picks and blocks, the Eagles had battled back to a 7-5 lead. In a tight third game, Dartmouth was unable to capitalize on BC's mistakes.
With the game at 12-7 in favor of the Eagles, the game saw its best point. In an amazingly lengthy rally, both BC and Dartmouth players were sent sprawling onto the floor.
Unable to put the ball away, the Big Green lost the point and eventually the match, 15-7.
Jen Madsen '02 and Naipo led the Big Green with 10 kills apiece. Naipo, along with co-captain Dean, recorded a match-high 12 digs, while sophomore Anne Jakle added 10 digs. Morgan tallied 32 assists for the Green.
Dartmouth will play its final home match of the season against Ivy League rival Harvard in Leede Arena tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.
