The volleyball team traveled to Smithfield, R.I., on Tuesday and lost in straight sets to Bryant University. The sets were all competitive, with the Big Green (7-6, 0-1 Ivy) on the short end 25-21, 25-22 and 25-20.
After a promising 7-3 start, the loss marks the third in a row for the team.
Just as the team did last week against Harvard University, the Big Green had numerous errors, although Bryant (4-15, 1-1 NEC) had 19 to the Big Green's 13.
"All of the sets were close, but there were far too many unforced errors to allow us to win," coach Erin Lindsey said. "We saw that at the end of sets. There were stretches that showed what we can do, but they weren't long enough to win."
Defensively, the Bulldogs bested Dartmouth in blocks 58-56 and dominated in digs 55-40.
"Recently in practice we've been talking about having a lot of grit on defense," Alli Brady '16 said. "Last night we started with good intensity on defense. There were good moments in the game where we set up a good block and put our defense in a good position."
The Big Green faced issues on offense as well, posting a team attack percentage of .095 percent to Bryant's .293 percent.
"We've been doing a lot of work on our serve reception and passing," Lindsey said. "If we can do that on a high level, then we will be giving our setters lots of to time to attack. We are really working on getting the ball to our middle attackers more. The only way to really do that is to pass well enough that they can be close enough to the net."
After starting the first set fast and gaining a 2-0 advantage before relinquishing the lead at 7-6, Dartmouth fell behind early in the second set 10-5.
"Unfortunately, we have been started slowly in sets which puts us in a come from behind position a lot," Lindsey said. "Sometimes we are able to do it but sometimes we get too far behind and can't catch up."
Bryant provided a preview of serving styles the Big Green will see during conference games for the rest of the season.
"They had some pretty good top spin jump servers," Lindsey said. "We didn't do a great jobs of handling serves and allowed them to go on some runs that made the difference in the second and third set."
The team has struggled in its last few games, co-captain Lucia Pohlman '15.
"We did not accomplish all our goals for the game because we are still struggling to execute and not take mental breaks," Pohlman said. "I don't think we need to make as many technical changes to win, but we need to change our mentality and approach to the game if we're going to win and play our best."
Pohlman recognizes the effect of the age of the team on play and focus.
"We have a lot of younger players on the team and they're slowly learning how to adapt faster," Pohlman said. "We're realizing how fast we need to be on top of our assignments and games."
The team looks to improve as it moves into the meat of its Ivy schedule and, despite its inexperience and youth, is optimistic.
"If we are a little mentally tougher we will be physically tougher," Lindsey said. Moving forward we told our players they need to come into practice with the bar set higher for what they expect of themselves and the team. We had strong blocking earlier in the season but it has gone away and needs to come back."
The Big Green goes on the road this weekend to face Brown University and Yale University as it enters a tough conference stretch.
Brady is a reporter for The Dartmouth.
