Regionally ranked Big Green volleyball (9-3, 2-0 Ivy) out-hit, out-served and outmatched opponents to win the Harvard Invitational this weekend in Cambridge. Dartmouth's win steak, currently at eight games, continued Friday night with a straight-set victory over host Harvard (2-8, Ivy 0-2). An easy three-game victory for the Big Green over Sacred Heart (3-12) marked the first of two Pioneer losses on the weekend.
Dartmouth earned their No. 12 ranking in the Northeast with last week's trumping of Harvard and Maine (4-8) in the Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover. This week's match-up with Harvard proved to be more of the same.
On Friday night, the Crimson could find no solution to the Big Green's power-hitting duo of outside hitters Sarah Nadler '06 and standout Jess Thomas '09. Nadler, who notched 13 kills in last week's defeat of Harvard, accrued 15 more when the teams met in Cambridge. Thomas, recent winner of Ivy League Volleyball Rookie of the Week honors, continued her strong play. She added 11 kills to a stellar back row performance, in which she dug up 11 balls and received 16 serves without error in either category.
"She's such a strong force," the team's captain Nadler said of Thomas. "She's smart. She makes smart decisions on the court and shows a maturity that you wouldn't expect from a freshman. She's been helping our offense a lot."
Behind the play of Thomas and Nadler, Dartmouth cruised to victory in three games, 30-24, 30-20, 30-23.
Saturday's sweep of Sacred Heart (30-24, 30-23, 30-16) cemented the third consecutive tournament title of Dartmouth's pre-conference schedule. Like Harvard, the Pioneers could do little to hinder the Big Green attack. Dartmouth's hitting percentage (kills-errors/attempts) topped .250, while the Green defense held Sacred Heart to a .120 percentage, including a mere -.125 mark in game three alone. The offense was spearheaded by freshman phenom Thomas, whose 15 kills led all players. Thomas saw 26 sets come her way, only erring twice and producing an astounding .500 hitting percentage. She is leading Dartmouth with an average of 3.8 kills per game this season.
Equally crucial to this weekend's victories were the performances of sophomore setters Elise Krieger '08 and Katie Hirsh '08. Over two matches at the Harvard Invitational, Krieger and Hirsch tallied 40 and 45 assists, respectively.
The win over Sacred Heart was Dartmouth's eighth of the season. The team has already surpassed last year's win total of six and looks to break double-digit wins for the first time in years. The two wins against Harvard count towards league standings.
Dartmouth has not had a winning record in the Ivy League since 2000. Nadler noted that because of the program's struggles in recent years, the team has been deemed "the underdog." According to the team's captain, however, the title only "builds excitement to go out and prove ourselves as a program."
The tournament win is almost certain to bolster regional rankings and confidence as the Big Green opens its Ivy League schedule with four consecutive road matches. The squad returns to action next weekend with a Friday night match against 2004 Ivy League co-champion Princeton and a Saturday afternoon bout with Penn at 4 p.m. in Philadelphia.