Volleyball Takes Down Ivy Leader Cornell In Five Sets

Friday, October 31

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

6-13,3-6Ivy League

Cornell

12-7,7-2Ivy League

Cornell

Dartmouth

Volleyball Takes Down Ivy Leader Cornell In Five Sets

10/31/2025 10:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Dan Richeal

HANOVER, N.H.—Dartmouth volleyball earned a five set win over Ivy League leader Cornell on Friday night.

Set One (W, 25-22)

The opening set saw seven ties and six lead changes as the teams looked to take the critical opening set. Dartmouth took an early 3-0 lead but the Big Red responded and tied the set at four. The back and forth play continued for the full set as Cornell held a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. Out of the break, the Big Green took an 18-16 lead which led to a Cornell timeout. The Big Red then took a 21-20 lead which led to a Big Green timeout. Out of the timeout, the Big Green took a 23-21 lead which led to Cornell taking its second timeout. Cornell notched the next point, but the Big Green took the next two points to close the opening set.

Fresh off notching her 700^th career kill, Kauany Gutz led Dartmouth with four kills in the first set. Raeli Smith added a trio of kills while Elle McCreery added a pair and Maddie LaFata and Ava Roberts each tallied one. Ellie Mattox had five of Dartmouth's 10 assists in the set, Sophia Gagnepain notched four while Julia Gojcaj added an assist. Smith notched a pair of block assists while she teamed up with Roberts and Zori Brown once each for a block. Gagnepain notched a pair of service aces while McCreery also added an ace. The Big Green held Cornell to a .098 hitting percentage in the first set.

Set Two (W, 25-17)

The second set did not see as many ties and lead changes, but the teams still battled to take the second set. Cornell took the first point of the set and took an early 3-1 lead. The Big Green inched back and tied the set at seven and took a 15-9 lead into the media break. Dartmouth extended its lead to eight as Cornell took a timeout with the score being 20-12. The timeout did not phase the Big Green as they took the set 25-17.

As a team, Dartmouth hit .303 with just two attack errors in the set. Gutz had four kills in the set while McCreery had three kills on five attempts. LaFata added a pair of kills while Brown, Roberts, and Smith each had a kill. Mattox notched six assists while also having a team high four digs. McCreery accounted for seven of Dartmouth's points in the set as she had three kills, two aces, one solo block, and two block assists in the set.

Set Three (L, 25-20)

With their backs against the wall, Cornell fought to extend the match in the third set. After 17 points, the Big Red led 11-6 which led to a Dartmouth timeout. The Big Green looked to claw back into the set but Cornell kept a six point lead at 18-12 as Dartmouth called its second timeout. The timeout nearly brought the Big Green back to even as Cornell called timeout as Dartmouth trailed by just two at 20-18. The Big Red timeout stopped Dartmouth's comeback as Cornell took the set 25-20 to extend the match.

LaFata led the team with four kills in the set while the trio of Gutz, Roberts, and Smith each had a pair of kills. Both Mattox and Gagnepain had four assists in the set while Gojcaj and McCreery each added an assist. Gutz tallied a pair of aces in the set while Gagnepain also added an ace. The duo of Roberts and Smith combined for the lone Dartmouth block.

Set Four (L, 25-14)

Despite Cornell winning the set by 11 points, the two teams traded the lead four times in the set and had a tie score nine times. The first 20 points of the set were split as the teams were tied at 10. The back and forth play continued as Cornell held a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Cornell took three straight points which led to a Dartmouth timeout. After the timeout, Cornell took the next seven points to close the set and force a fifth set.

LaFata had two kills in the set while Smith and Gutz added the other kills in the set. Both McCreery and Gutz had an aces in the set, McCreery added a solo block and a block assist in the set. Gutz, LaFata, and Smith each had a block assist in the set. Both Mattox and Brown had three digs in the set.

Set Five (W, 19-17)

The shortened fifth set was full of drama as there were 10 ties and five lead changes. Cornell took an early 2-0 lead but the Big Green quickly tied the set. The teams were then tied at three, four, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. The battle came to end as Cornell had an attack error to make it 18-17. LaFata ended the match with a kill to take the set 19-17 and the match 3-2.

Both Gutz and LaFata had four kills in the set while Brown, McCreery, and Smith each had a kill in the set. Gutz had the lone Dartmouth ace in the set while also having four digs. Gagenpain had a team high five digs in the set while nine members of the Big Green had dig. Smith had a solo block in the set while the duo of McCreery and LaFata teamed up a block.

Gutz led Dartmouth with 15 kills, LaFata had 13 kills in the match. Gutz tallied a double double as she had 15 digs. Gagnepain tallied 17 assists and 15 digs for a double double, Mattox also tallied a double double with 20 assists and 12 digs. The Big Green tallied 11 blocks as McCreery had two solo blocks and four block assists. As a team, Dartmouth had 92 digs which is the second most this season. Gutz and LaFata had a team high 15 digs while 10 Big Green players had a dig. The Big Green tied a season high with 12 aces, both LaFata and McCreery tallied four aces in the match.

The Big Green look for the weekend sweep of New York teams as Columbia comes to Hanover for a Saturday evening match. First serve against the Lions is set for 5 PM at Leede Arena.

Raeli Smith following a five set win over Cornell!#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/22paux8V9d
— Dartmouth Volleyball (@DartmouthVBall) November 1, 2025

Kauany Gutz speaks following a huge five set win over Cornell on Friday night!#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/bcpni25o92
— Dartmouth Volleyball (@DartmouthVBall) November 1, 2025