W. Volleyball Sweeps Dartmouth, Still First in Ivy

It might have been Dartmouth's homecoming this weekend, but the Harvard women's volleyball team didn't make the Big Green feel at home at all. The team continued its Ivy League dominance Saturday afternoon, posting an easy 3-0 win in Hanover, N.H.

Co-captain Linda Jellison had an impressive day with 12 kills and five digs, and finished with a .357 hitting percentage.

"They had a loud crowd [attendance of 314] and it made for quite a loud gym, but we were able to put it out of our minds," said junior Katherine Hart.

The Crimson (12-9, 4-1 Ivy) jumped all over Dartmouth (9-11, 2-3 Ivy) in three quick games, sweeping the match 15-7, 15-6, 15-11. With the win, Harvard stayed at the top of the tight Ivy League standings with Princeton and Brown.

In the first game, the Crimson came out strong and had an easy time of it. Both the offense and the defense gelled nicely, enabling Harvard to score points quick. After exchanging points early, Harvard pulled ahead and finished the Big Green off. The Crimson finished with 17 kills, six errors and a .256 hitting percentage.

"We didn't give them a chance to keep up with us. We dominated every point that game," said senior defensive setter Kristin Priscella.

The same could be said for the second game as well. While Dartmouth came back mad and played a little stronger, but the more the Big Green scored, the more Harvard stung right back. Again, after parrying early, the Crimson ran away with the 15-6 win. Both junior outside hitter Angela Lutich and freshman setter Mindy Jellin had long service stretches in that game to help the Crimson pull away. Dartmouth was unable to come up with much offensively, while Harvard had almost the same numbers as in the first game, with 12 kills, three errors and a .257 hitting percentage.

"The defense was working well, and our serve receiving was excellent[in the second game]," said Jellin.

Finally, in the third game, Dartmouth put up a fight. The Harvard serve receiving had some holes, and the Dartmouth servers took advantage. Even though Harvard took the lead early, Dartmouth pulled back to 11-9 with the help of a five-point run. The Crimson got stuck in some rotations where the passing simply broke down, and so did its consistency. However, with the help of some key blocks the Crimson was able to overcome a subpar .146 hitting percentage and finish its Ivy League foe off.

"We were really playing great as a team," said Priscella. "We've been getting better recently, and the Dartmouth match was a great culmination of the last couple weeks." Harvard also outblocked the Big Green 13-2.

There were some good individual efforts as well. Junior middle hitter Hart, who played superbly in last Tuesday's game against Quinnipiac, had another solid effort, going for six kills and 12 digs. Jellin finished with sixteen digs and 41 set assists.

Erin Denniston, last week's Ivy League Player of the Week, continued her strong offensive play with 12 kills and a .258 hitting percentage, along with five digs.

Sophomore Ashley Dean was the lone bright spot for Dartmouth, recording a double-double with 13 kills and 18 digs.

The Crimson play at Providence tomorrow night before returning to the friendly confines of the Malkin Athletic Center for a big Ivy League weekend against Yale and Brown.