The Dartmouth women's volleyball team (12-4, 5-1 Ivy) experienced mixed results over the weekend, winning convincingly against Columbia on Friday night, but falling short in a five-game thriller against defending Ivy League champion Cornell Saturday afternoon.
The weekend's long road trip began with a visit to Columbia (3-13, 0-5 Ivy), which has struggled so far this year, having yet to win a game in the Ivy League.
In the first game, the Big Green got out to a quick start, taking a 15-8 lead. After a Columbia timeout, however, the Lions stormed back, tying the game after scoring seven straight points. Then with Megan MacGregor '10 serving, the Big Green reopened the lead over a six-point span, which included two errors from Columbia and two service aces from MacGregor. The teams traded points for the remainder of the game but the damage had been done, and the Big Green went on to win the first game 30-22.
Game two was a more consistently even game than the first, as Dartmouth pulled out a 30-27 win to take the 2-0 lead.
There were eight lead changes in the game and the score was tied 12 times, with the biggest lead of the game coming when Columbia was up 12-8. The contest finished with another service ace from MacGregor, who along with Jess Thomas '09 had four on the night.
In the third game, the Big Green put the icing on another sweep against an Ivy League opponent, its fifth sweep of the Ivy season and eighth overall. Throughout the game, Dartmouth capitalized on Columbia errors and eventually brought the game to match point at 29-23. Columbia fought back hard, scoring four straight must-win points, but Morgan Covington '10 sealed the victory with her tenth kill of the match.
After the match, the Big Green hopped on the bus for the four-hour drive to Ithaca, N.Y., where the team matched up against Cornell (6-9, 3-2 Ivy) on Saturday afternoon.
The Big Red put up a tougher fight against Dartmouth than its downstate counterparts, and handed the Big Green its first loss in the Ivy League.
Game one was hard fought by both teams, but neither team had a clear advantage. The Big Green's attacking performance was not its best, as Dartmouth had an attack percentage of .171 as opposed to the team's overall season average of .226. However, the Big Green was still very competitive in game one. With the game tied at 30-30 and a two-point lead needed for the win, the Big Red stepped up with a kill and a Dartmouth attacking error to win the game.
The next two games saw Dartmouth returning to its elite form, with attack percentages in the two games of .316 and .327 respectively. In game two, the Big Green served extremely well, with Frances Samolowicz '08 serving for eight straight points to start the game, captains Katie Hirsch '08 and Sandy Barbut '08 both serving for three straight points in the middle of the match, and MacGregor with four straight to help win game two 30-17.
Game three was more even than game two, but the Big Green pulled it out, winning 30-27 to take the two to one lead.
In game four, after Cornell jumped to an early lead, the Big Green tied the game at 15-15, but the Big Red maintained at least a two-point cushion for the remainder of the contest, eventually taking the game 30-28 to set up the tiebreaking game five which was played to 15 points as opposed to 30.
In the fifth and final game, both teams set up efficient attacks, but it was Cornell who was able to pull out the hard-fought victory, 15-12.
Some might think that the long road trip in between matches was a decisive factor in the loss, but the team is not about to make excuses.
"I don't think there was a large difference in our play from Friday to Saturday," Thomas said. "I think we served well at times throughout both days, but all together we were not consistent this weekend. The quick turnaround was not a factor. We got plenty of sleep. Losing was ultimately due to our inconsistency, not fatigue."
"I think we learned that we aren't invincible," Hirsch said. "We have targets on our backs this year and we cannot afford to play poorly and still expect to win."
The loss Saturday may prove to be a strong motivator for the team, as Dartmouth will have to focus on small improvements for this weekend's homecoming matches against Ivy rivals Penn and Princeton.
"After Saturday, we now remember how much it stinks to lose and this will be a driving force for practices this week," Thomas said. "I think it is a good way to re-focus our efforts and really come to practice ready to work."
The team's captains are both still very confident in their squad's abilities, and are excited for the chance to return and play at home this weekend.
"We made some unfortunate errors [Saturday]," Barbut said. "However, we are still an incredible team and plan on going all the way. I believe that completely."
"When we give ourselves opportunities to put the ball away, we are successful," Hirsch said. "We also play with a lot of heart and emotion, especially at home, and when we do all that, we're scary. We want to be scary this weekend."
