The Big Green (7-4, 0-0 Ivy) opened the tournament on Friday against the Rhode Island Rams. Dartmouth has only taken on Rhode Island once before in program history, which the Big Green won in 2009.
Dartmouth looked to continue its winning ways and seemed up to the task right off the bat, taking the first set by a solid 25-20 margin. In the second set, the Big Green found themselves down by a score of 23-22, two points from dropping the set and losing the lead in the match. Standing firm, Dartmouth rattled off three straight points to take the set and a commanding 2-0 lead.
"This year, we've had a much higher level of focus when closing out those close sets," Kaira Lujan '16 said. "There's a lack of being frantic because we're just staying in it point by point."
The third and potentially clinching set was another heated battle, but this one did not go Dartmouth's way. With the women standing one point from victory, the Rams scored five straight points to take the set 26-24 and prolong the match. The fourth set was once again tightly contested, but this time Dartmouth took the set by a score of 26-24, giving them the match. Standout performers for the Big Green included Paige Caridi 16, Lujan and Molly Kornfeind '17.
In the second game, Dartmouth faced off against the Huskies in a matchup that proved far tougher. In the first two sets, the Big Green was outmatched and overpowered at nearly every turn, losing the first two sets by a combined total of 25 points.
In the third set, Dartmouth put together a much stronger fight, clawing back to a 24-23 deficit before the Huskies managed to put the match away. The loss left Dartmouth winless in three contests against the Huskies.
After splitting the first day's games, the Big Green returned to Leede on Saturday re-energized and prepared to do battle with their Granite State rivals, the Wildcats. The first set was back-and-forth, with the Wildcats clawing their way to a 17-16 lead. They followed up their quick start with a 6-1 run that placed them just two points from an opening set victory. Though Dartmouth grappled back to within two, Wildcats sophomore outside hitter Tori Forrest finished the set with a kill.
"Volleyball is a big momentum sport," Elisa Scudder '14 said. "We've been a notoriously slow-starting team, and against New Hampshire we didn't really come out executing our game plan right away."
Despite failing to take the first set, the Big Green did not panic and rebounded, controlling the second set from the outset, jumping out to a 5-0 lead that the Wildcats could never substantially reduce. The Big Green won the second set 25-19.
The third and fourth sets were both tight, but Dartmouth took them both, winning the match 3-1. In the third set, the Big Green stood just two points from defeat before a 4-1 run carried them to victory in the set and gave them a commanding lead in the match.
"Against New Hampshire, we started slow but then we changed our mindsets," Holly Harper '15 said. "We just regrouped and recomposed ourselves and played well from that point on."
Dartmouth's final match of the Dartmouth Duels came against the No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers, who entered the match heavily favored, but the home team did not go down without a fight.
"Our coach basically told us to treat the game versus Minnesota as a bonus match," Lujan said. "Then we got out there and played some of our best volleyball of the year."
Although Dartmouth fell to Minnesota in straight sets, the Big Green played well and made Minnesota work for every point. The Golden Gophers took the match by a score of 25-20, 25-23, 25-20.
"We're very happy with the way the tournament played out," Scudder said. "We definitely wanted to beat Rhode Island and New Hampshire because they're more comparable to our Ivy League opponents. We wanted to play better against UConn, but we played our best against Minnesota and it showed."
The Big Green next take the court in their Ivy League opener on Sept. 27, in Cambridge, Mass., against rival Harvard University.
