"We're not used to mid-week games once classes have started, so this was a little bit of a different situation for us," captain Jessie Hartman '11 said. "I think we rose to the challenge well."
Seven of the team's underclassmen five of whom were freshmen played a significant portion of the game, paving the way to victory. Alissa Santa Maria '13 stood out as the team's starting setter, racking up 35 assists, five digs and two kills.
"[The underclassmen] really stepped up to the plate tonight," middle blocker Annie Villanueva '12 said.
Villanueva is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
It took the Big Green (10-2, 1-0 Ivy) until the middle of its first game to really pull ahead of the Eagles. When the score reached 11-10, the Dartmouth women went on a 14-4 rampage ending the game in a 25-15 win.
The Friars came back with a vengeance at the start of the second game, proving their presence with a 5-0 run in a game that was much closer than the first.
"I think their [initial] lead got the better of us," Hartman said.
The Big Green women fought back, chipping away at the score until they tied the score at eight. Providence proved resilient when they re-took the lead 12-9, but after a Big Green time-out and a kill by Elisa Scudder '14, the Friars could do nothing to prevent a 25-19 win by Dartmouth.
Villanueva said that falling behind in the second game has been somewhat of a weakness for the team this season.
"We're really working on how to come out strong after winning the first game," she said.
The third game served as a convincing conclusion for Dartmouth, which did not fall behind once and soundly defeated Providence 25-15. The Friars, on the other hand, committed 13 errors, on all of which the Big Green was able to capitalize.
Overall, the team saw the match as a successful one, according to Villanueva.
"We did a really good job of focusing and having a lot of energy in a mid-week game," she said.
Madeline Baird '12 led the team in kills with 14 and recorded nine digs. Villanueva was close behind with 13 kills, while Amber Bryant '12 led the team with 13 digs.
In a total of 106 attempts, Dartmouth boasted 46 kills and 12 errors. The women recorded a .321 hitting percentage their second-best of the season.
The team is set for a rematch against Harvard on Oct. 1. The Big Green defeated the Crimson last weekend 3-1.
Villanueva said that while she is aware it will be a tough match, she still feels confident about the team's chances.
"Harvard's going to be more challenging than tonight was," she said. "But we're ready to work really hard in practice the rest of this week, and we'll be ready on Friday for sure."
Hartman agreed, adding that the victory against Providence bodes well for this weekend's game.
"It was nice to get that under our belt before Harvard," Hartman said. "We're not too worried about playing them at their place."
