The Big Green (12-5, 3-3 Ivy) started out the weekend on Friday night at second place Penn (8-9, 4-1 Ivy) and fell in a 3-2 comeback attempt. Dartmouth was able to win the first set 25-21 before dropping the next two sets 16-25 and 14-25.
Dartmouth responded to Penn's push, coming from behind for a strong performance in the fourth set, winning 25-22. Kelsey Johnson '11 closed the last set strong with two kills. The Big Green forced a fifth set tie-breaker, but fell 10-3 before calling a time out and ultimately losing the set 15-8.
"We played the most technically correct game of the season against Penn in the first game, and we played with a lead and had a pretty big lead," coach Ann Marie Larese said. "And then we battled and had to keep on battling."
Both Madeline Baird '12 and Johnson put up strong attacks against Penn with 16 and 12 kills, respectively. Baird is second in the Ivy League with 245 kills on the season, following Princeton sophomore Lydia Rudnick who has 246 kills.
"I thought our passing started to get pretty poor and we started to make a lot of mistakes after the first game," Baird said of the game against Penn. "We're a team that plays really well with a lead and we didn't have a lead in the second and third game."
The loss at Penn was followed by a bitter defeat at Princeton on Saturday afternoon. The Big Green fell to the Tigers in three straight sets going 17-25, 15-25 and 18-25 Saturday afternoon. The team had a rough first set, going down by six before scoring their first point. The women rebounded in the second set by matching the Tigers to a score of 7-7 before the Tigers were able to take advantage of a few service aces to take the lead.
Against Princeton, the Big Green saw strong performances from Kendall Houston '12 with 23 assists and 10 digs, and Amber Bryant '12 who notched 16 digs. Despite the strong effort by the Big Green in the second and third sets of the match, only Baird was able to capitalize consistently on the attack with 10 kills.
Baird said the team was disappointed with the weekend results, especially given the team's play earlier in the season.
"Both Penn and Princeton were good opponents but we knew we could beat them," Baird said. "The team's sentiment afterwards was overall disappointment because we didn't really show up for the matches. When it came to pressure situations, we didn't perform."
The team also learned the importance of working as a team, according to Baird.
"We didn't really work together like we have in the past which was evident in the way that we played," she said.
The Big Green will get another crack at Ivy League leaders Penn and Princeton for the last two games of their regular season. Both these games will be played in Hanover which should provide an exciting end to the Big Green's regular season.
"We know what we are facing with those two teams," Larese said. "We're going to have call it up and go all in against those two teams. We missed out on that opportunity and we will capitalize on that opportunity if when it comes again."
The women hope to regroup this weekend at home against Brown University and Yale University. To keep pace with the leaders of the Ivy League, the Big Green will need to defend its home court and win both games.
Larese said that the team's long term goal is still winning the Ivy League, but the team must focus on winning both games at home and on the road.
"If you look at the winning percentage at home in the Ivy league, it's pretty high," she said. "That's one thing we have to worry about: winning at home. The key is to at least split games on the road, wherever we are. The team on top of the Ivy right now only has one of its wins on the road."
