Despite an 0-2 weekend, the volleyball team had a historic road trip as co-captain Elisa Scudder '14 set the program's blocking record. In the second set of the game against the Bulldogs (9-3, 3-0 Ivy), Scudder's block put her count at 281, the most in the program's history.
Scudder's record-breaking block came in the second set, with the score tied at 12. Yale sophomore McHaney Carter attempted a block, only to have it sent back by Scudder for the point.
"It was an amazing feeling, definitely one I'll remember for a while," said Scudder. "I knew that I only needed one more but didn't really realize I broke it until Yale called a timeout right after. We were playing such a good match against Yale too, which made it that much better." On Friday, the team traveled to Providence to take on the Bears (6-8, 2-1 Ivy). After winning the first set, the Big Green (7-8, 0-3 Ivy) dropped the next two.
After a back-and-forth fourth set, the Big Green put the Bears away with kills from Scudder and Molly Kornfeind '17 to force the deciding set.
After a fast 7-3 start by the Bears, the Big Green slowly but surely fought their way back thanks to Emily Astarita '17 and Kaira Lujan '16. The Big Green had a match point at 14-13, but three straight points for Brown closed the game.
"We came out a little flat against Brown and forced ourselves into a fifth set, which is definitely something we want to fix moving forward," Scudder said. "As a team, we want to keep improving our level of play and our consistency so that we can be in more matches."
Despite the straight-set loss to the Bulldogs, the Big Green put up a fight right from the start of the match. In the first set, Yale was up 13-8, but the Big Green scored five points in a row to tie up the set. The Big Green could not keep the momentum, falling in a close set 25-23.
The second set was equally close, with the Bulldogs and Big Green trading off points until the very end, when Yale scored the final five points in the game.
In the third set, Dartmouth's offense became too predictable and Yale easily defended against it. The Big Green's defense also broke down, with passing errors contributing to the third set score. The Bulldogs won the third set 25-12.
Despite the shaky third set against Yale, the Big Green's defense has improved over the course of the season.
"The one thing we've improved on most would be our defensive grit," Scudder said. "We're really going all out on defense all the time now, and we're getting a lot more digs and emergency plays over than we previously had been."
Dartmouth's freshmen are contributing to the Big Green's kill count. Astarita lead the count with nine kills against Yale, while Lujan had eight and Scudder followed up with seven. Lujan has become a valuable asset to Dartmouth's offense, as her attack percentage is .500. Stacey Benton '17 had 20 assists in the match and a service ace.
The freshmen look forward to gaining more collegiate match experience.
"We still have a lot of matches ahead of us this season," Astarita said. "We're looking forward to coming out strong and competing against all our opponents. The first year has been going really well, the team is nice and welcoming and we play well together."
The team still looks to improve and plans to learn from mistakes as it moves forward in the Ivy League.
"I think the goal for the rest of the season is to keep improving each match," Benton said. "The season is still starting and we still have a lot of volleyball ahead of us. We are a young, strong team. We have a lot of potential and we just need to learn and grow from each opponent we play against."
The team plays at home over Homecoming weekend, hosting Columbia University and Cornell University at Leede Arena. The team plays Columbia (3-9, 1-2 Ivy) on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. and battles the Big Red (5-7, 2-1 Ivy) at 5 p.m. on Oct. 12.
