The Big Green volleyball team returned to its early season form this weekend, posting a strong effort against powerhouse Cornell and cruising to a three-game sweep against Columbia.
The two home matches end the team's three-week road swing, and Saturday's win over Columbia marks the end of a five-match losing slide.
Dartmouth (10-8, Ivy 3-5) entered the weekend's play coming off of a pair of painful losses, losing a heartbreaking five-game marathon to Brown and a hapless sweep at the hands of Yale.
On Friday night, the Big Green lost their match to Cornell (14-3, Ivy 7-0), but showed a poise that could come in handy during the rest of the season.
After the Big Red claimed the first two games of the match by convincing margins (30-23, 30-21), Dartmouth battled back. Behind strong serving by Sandy Barbut '07 and consistent hitting by Sarah Nadler '06 and Jess Thomas '09 (15 kills each), the Big Green was able to steal game three from Cornell, 30-26.
Although Cornell returned to win game four, taking the match, Dartmouth's victory in the third game marks only the second game dropped to an Ivy opponent by the Big Red for the entirety of this season.
Most of Nadler and Thomas' kills were set up by setter Katie Hirsch '08 (29 assists), and the Big Green's defense and serve receive were anchored by Cecily Kaya '09 whose 20 digs helped slow the Cornell attack.
Nadler, the team's captain and only senior said of Kaya, "Cecily is so quick. It really helps our offense out when we have something like her as the core of our defense and serve receive to put balls where we need them."
For Cornell, the win improved their Ivy League mark to 6-0, which they would later improve to 7-0 with a win over Harvard on Saturday. The Big Red has won 13 out of their last 14 matches.
The momentum that Dartmouth generated late in the match against Cornell carried through to Saturday's homecoming match against Columbia. "It felt so good to play at home," Nadler noted, "especially during Homecoming it was great to play in front of our friends. This was my first homecoming match -- we've played away the past three years."
Dartmouth found holes in the Lions' weak blocking, achieving a .276 percent hitting efficiency rate. The Big Green's defense stifled Columbia's offense to .150 percent, led by the blocking of Nadine Parris '07 (four blocks). Dartmouth was able to exploit the Lions' weaknesses with each successive game, winning in three games (30-26, 30-24, and 30-18).
The Big Green's offense hit its stride in untraditional ways on Saturday. The team usually relies on a shared effort between Thomas and Nadler for its attack. On Saturday, Columbia centered its blocking efforts on Thomas, forcing her to adjust her hitting. Thomas killed only seven sets, erring six times on 21 attempts (.048 percent).
However, Nadler filled the void as she stepped up with a season high 18 kills, only erring three times on 43 sets (.349 percent).
The weekend's efforts hold the Big Green steady in Ivy League standings. While Dartmouth is currently seventh among the Ancient Eight, the win over Columbia helps bridge the gap between the Big Green and the Lions, as well as Princeton and Penn who share the fourth place tie with Columbia.
Only a half game separates the seventh-place Big Green from fourth place.
Dartmouth will be back in action this weekend, continuing its home stand with matches against Penn on Friday at 7 p.m. and Princeton on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Leede Arena.
