Oct. 19, 2007

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NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Ivy volleyball race is suddenly a whole lot closer. Yale finally got the chance to play at home again on Friday night and made the most of the opportunity. The Bulldogs (10-5, 4-2 Ivy) quickly won the first two games before holding on for a 30-16, 30-14, 29-31, 30-19 victory over Cornell (6-10, 3-3 Ivy) at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. It was Yale's second straight home victory over the two-time defending conference champion Big Red.

In other Ivy action, Penn knocked off Dartmouth in four games, putting the Bulldogs, Big Green and Quakers even with two conference losses apiece. First-place Princeton remained undefeated, however, with a 3-0 victory over Harvard.

Allison Kaptur made her first career start for the Bulldogs and was sensational, tallying seven kills on .600 hitting and posting eight blocks. The junior's career totals entering the match were eight kills and six blocks. Kelly Ozurovich registered a career-high 32 digs, while Julia Mailander and Ally Mendenhall tied career bests with three service aces each.

Yale built a 6-1 advantage to start game one and rolled from there. The closest Cornell came in the game was within five at 18-13. With the Bulldogs in front 22-15, a 6-0 run on Mendenhall's serve put the game out of reach. Kali Nelson's kill put away an easy 30-16 first-game victory. Yale hit .412 (18 kills, four errors, 34 attempts) in game one.

Cornell scored the first three points of game two, but Yale immediately responded with a 7-0 run (again on Mendenhall's serve) to take control. Leading 8-5, the Bulldogs scored 10 of the next 13 points to establish a firm hold on the game at 18-8. The Big Red pulled within 21-12, but the Bulldogs ended the game on a 9-2 spurt to seal a 30-14 win. The Bulldogs hit .344 in game two, smashing 13 kills and committing just two errors in 32 attempts. Cornell, meanwhile, hit -.167 (7-13-36).

The Big Red turned things around in game three, opening up early leads of 5-1, 7-2 and 14-5. Yale charged back, however, finally tying the score at 25-25. The score was tied again three more times before Alexis Crusey's kill gave the Bulldogs a match point at 29-28. Crusey was blocked on the next play and the Big Red won the next two points to take the game, 31-29, and send the match to game four.

The Bulldogs made sure that the match wouldn't go the distance, blowing open a 4-4 tie with a 10-2 spurt that made it 14-6. With the score 16-8, Yale used a 6-1 run to effectively put the match away. Cornell had a five-point rally to pull within 24-15, but the deficit was too much to make up. Crusey's 18th kill capped the game, 30-19, and the match, 3-1.

Crusey led the way for the Bulldogs with 18 kills, 14 digs and four blocks. Mendenhall had a double-double, notching 46 assists and 12 digs to go along with three kills and three blocks. Nelson and Nicole Perkins each tallied 11 kills and Kristen Wilk added nine. Mailander had 12 digs. Yale hit .265 (63-19-166) as a team and out-dug the Big Red 86-73.

Cornell's young squad was paced by freshmen Katie Marshall and Erin McCarthy. Marshall tallied a team-leading 11 kills and four blocks, while McCarthy added 10 kills and nine digs. Emily Borman had 10 kills and six digs for the Big Red. Hilary Holland registered 26 kills, 12 digs and three blocks, while Amy Gordon added 12 assists. Megan Mushovic recorded a team-high 23 digs for Cornell. The Big Red hit .064 (45-34-172) in the match.

Yale has won consecutive matches for the first time since Sept. 21-22. The Bulldogs look to extend their streak to three straight Saturday afternoon when Columbia visits the John J. Lee Amphitheater for a 4 p.m. matchup. The Lions fell to 0-6 in conference play with a 3-1 loss at Brown on Friday night. Yale has won 10 straight over Columbia. A free live video feed of the match will be available as part of Yale All-Access on yalebulldogs.com.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity