Dartmouth Defeats Harvard, 3-1 for Ivy League Opening Win

Friday, September 24

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

HARVARD

Dartmouth Defeats Harvard, 3-1 for Ivy League Opening Win

9/24/2010 9:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — In front of a crowd of 421 screaming Dartmouth fans, the Big Green women's volleyball team won its Ivy League opener with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Harvard Crimson on Friday in Leede Arena. Game scores were 25-17, 20-25, 25-16, 25-11.

Dartmouth won the first set after opening play with a 6-2 run. The Big Green ran the score up to 9-3 before Harvard was forced to take a timeout. Kills by Madeline Baird (Austin, Texas) and Annie Villanueva (Santa Barbara, Calif.) helped bring the score to 13-7 as Dartmouth led the rest of the way, en route to a 25-17 win.

The second set was back and forth early but Harvard took advantage of four straight Big Green errors to take an 11-10 lead and never look back. Dartmouth was able to get within one at 21-20 off a kill by Meghan Cooney (Martinez, Calif.) but it wasn't enough as the Crimson tallied the next four points to take a 25-20 win.

The third set was all Dartmouth as the Big Green went up quickly by five. The Crimson pulled to within two at 16-14 but Kendall Houston (Austin, Texas) served the Green to five straight points as Dartmouth won, 25-16.

The fourth and final set was much like the third as the Big Green took the early lead and never allowed Harvard to close the gap. Dartmouth led by as many as nine as Lexie Campbell's (Solana Beach, Calif.) service ace ended the match.

Four Big Green players were in double-figures for kills as Baird recorded a double-double with a game-high 14 kills and 15 digs. Houston also had a double-double with a season-high 45 assists along with 11 digs. Amber Bryant (Libertyville, Ill.) was tops with 20 digs and Elisa Scudder (Ashburn, Va.) led with four total blocks. Dartmouth hit .265 in the match and held the Crimson to a paltry .097.

The victory improved Dartmouth to 9-2, 1-0 in the Ivy League while Harvard fell to 2-10, 0-1 Ivy. The Big Green are off to its best start since 2008 and it's second-best start to a season in the last five years.

The Big Green is back in action at home on Tuesday, Sept. 28 with a matchup against Providence College at 7:00 pm.