With its hopes of finishing with a winning record Ivy League record hanging in the balance, the Dartmouth women's volleyball team split back-to-back five-set matches on the road this weekend against Cornell University and Columbia University. The Big Green (14-9, 6-6 Ivy) maintained its fourth-place position in the League with the results, two games ahead of Harvard University with two games left to play.
Co-captain Amber Bryant '12 led Dartmouth to its second win of the season over Cornell (6-18, 3-9 Ivy) on Friday. Bryant totaled 28 digs in the match, surpassing Ashley Dean '02 for the all-time digs record. Bryant now has 1,522 digs in her career, easily topping Dean's previous record of 1,482.
The Big Green found stronger resistance from Cornell than it did in October, when Dartmouth's squad easily dispatched the Big Red in a 3-0 shut out. This time, the Big Green dropped the first two sets before coming back to win the next three sets.
The first set was neck-and-neck throughout. Neither team led by more than three points until Cornell pushed ahead 13-9 in the middle of the set. The Big Red retained a narrow lead until Dartmouth won seven of nine points to tie the score at 24. Cornell went on to win the next two points, however, closing out the set on a kill by sophomore Janel Forte.
The second set ended more quickly, as Cornell sailed to a 25-11 victory. Cornell did not carry its impressive performance into the third set, however.
"The team responded to losing the first two games in an extremely positive manner," Kendall Houston '12 said.
Madeline Baird '12 said Dartmouth used the break as a turning point and emerged in the third set with newfound intensity.
"During the break, our coach really emphasized our incredible opportunity to learn more about ourselves as a team by playing with determination and heart," Baird said. "We refused to give up and ultimately refused to leave without a win."
The Big Green's mental turnaround spurred an improvement in its play, starting with a 5-0 run in the third set. Cornell's inability to recover led to a 25-14 win for the Big Green.
The fourth set was equally successful for Dartmouth and the team opened with another strong run. Although Cornell combatted the run and tied the score at four, the Big Green overpowered its opposition in the middle of the set and won, 25-16.
The fifth set was the most difficult for Dartmouth, as the Big Green was forced to come back from a 13-10 deficit to seal the win.
Four consecutive kills from Dartmouth three from Alex Schoenberger '15 and one from co-captain Annie Villanueva '12 gave the team a 14-13 lead. The Big Green capitalized on the final point to win the match.
"We fought really hard and were extremely pleased with a tremendous comeback," Houston said.
Dartmouth traveled to New York City the following night to play Columbia (15-7. 9-3 Ivy). The match also went to five games, but the Big Green fell short and lost to the Lions, 3-2.
"We just weren't effective when we needed to be," Houston said, "We made silly errors at critical points of the match."
Columbia took the first three points of the first set and never looked back, maintaining a steady lead over Dartmouth until it ended the set with a 25-17 win.
Dartmouth stuck with Columbia in the beginning of the second set, and once the score was tied at 13, the Big Green surged ahead with a nine-point run. Dartmouth capitalized on the lead and secured a 25-15 win.
The third set also remained close at first, but Columbia pulled ahead in the middle and led by four at 16-12. The Big Green responded and went on to claim the set, 25-20.
Dartmouth struggled in the fourth set, however. Baird said the Big Green lost momentum early, and the team could not recover quickly enough to snatch an overall win.
Columbia started to accumulate a lead in the middle of the set, and although the Lions never built a big advantage, Dartmouth could not catch up. The Big Green fell, 21-25, tying the match at two sets each.
Despite allowing Columbia to jump out to a 10-4 lead in the fifth set, Dartmouth showed grit and maintained its intensity. A series of Big Green errors held the team back as the Lions surged to a 15-10 win.
Although Dartmouth suffered a difficult loss, Villanueva said she was happy with the team's performance.
"We fought really hard tonight, and I'm proud of our team," she said.
The Big Green plays Brown University and first-in-the-League Yale University at home next weekend in its final two matches of the season.
"We are working to finish with a very strong performance next weekend, to secure our finish at the top half of the League," Baird said.
