HANOVER, N.H. – Strong performances from seniors Madison Baptiste and Jillienne Bennett gave Cornell a fighting chance against the Big Green, but Dartmouth proved to be too much for the Big Red volleyball team, as Cornell dropped a 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20) battle on Saturday evening at Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H.
Baptiste and Bennett both notched double-digit kills, with Baptiste recording a team-high 14 and Bennett posting 13 to go along with a .400 hitting percentage. This marked the ninth time this season that Baptiste amassed double-digit kills, while the total for Bennett matched a season-best. Baptiste didn't stop there, however, posting 16 digs for a double-double and filling the stat sheet with a pair of aces and blocks (one solo, one assisted).
As a whole, the senior class accounted for 43 of Cornell's 50 kills, as Avery Hanan put down a season-high nine and Casey Justus added seven. The quartet also collected 10 of the Big Red's 14 blocks, with Bennett and Justus notching three apiece and Hanan stuffing a pair of Dartmouth attackers.
Emma Worthington posted match-highs in assists (32) and digs (20) for her ninth dig-assist double-double of the year. Jackie Baker also added double-digit digs, posting 14 to go along with seven assists and an ace.
Dartmouth built a 2-0 advantage for the match by establishing early leads in each of the first two sets that were difficult for the Big Red to come back from. After scoring the first five points of the match, Cornell found itself in a 12-5 hole in the opening set before it knew it. A timeout helped the Big Red take a breath, as Cornell scored six of the next seven points to cut Dartmouth's lead to two, 13-11. A Hanan kill was followed by three Big Green attack errors, two of which were forced via a Baptiste and Camryn Carlo block assist and a Baptiste solo block. Kills from Carlo and Bennett capped off the run.
A Dartmouth timeout also served its purpose, however, as the Big Green scored the next three points to re-extend its lead to five and go on to a 25-19 set one victory.
But Cornell responds out of the timeout, scoring six of the next seven points to cut Dartmouth's lead to two, 13-11. The Cornell blocking game came up Big in getting Cornell back into this one, Baptiste/Carlo BA, Baptiste solo block. Carlo, Bennett, and Hanan also notched kills to lessen the Cornell deficit.
The Big Red struggled to find its footing in the second set, finding itself in a 9-3 hole after five-straight Dartmouth points. The Big Green never looked back, and led by eight kills from Ellie Blain, Dartmouth out-hit Cornell in the set .405 to .200 in route to a dominant 25-14 display.
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the second set, it would have been easy for Cornell to hang its head, but instead, the Big Red dug deep. Trailing 10-7, Cornell scored five of the next six points out of a timeout to take a 12-11 lead, with Baptiste putting the team on her back. A pair of big kills and back-to-back aces from the senior ignited a spark within the team.
Cornell ended up building a 10-2 run out of that timeout, and after Baptiste made her presence known, it was Bennett's turn to be in the spotlight, putting down three kills in the latter part of the run to help Cornell build its lead to 17-12.
Dartmouth tried to make it interesting, going on a 4-1 run of its own with the score at 20-17 to tie things up, 21-21. Cornell refocused, and after back-to-back kills from none other than Bennett with the score at 22-22, the Big Red had set point, 24-22. After a Dartmouth timeout, the Big Green scored the next point to set up a pivotal next series at 24-23. Bennett and Justus put down the block in crunch time, giving Cornell the 25-23 set three win.
The Big Red continued to show that it wasn't going to go down without a fight, staying neck-and-neck with Dartmouth in the first half of the fourth set. Neither team could gain an inch until the score struck 13-13, at which point Dartmouth started to pull away. A 6-2 run gave the Big Green a 19-15 lead that was the turning point of the set, as Dartmouth went on to win the fourth, 25-20, and the match, 3-1.
The first round of Ivy League play is officially complete, and the Big Red finds itself at 5-10 overall and 1-6 in league play heading into the second round of conference competition next weekend. The Cornell volleyball team will host Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
