NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Eight different players recorded kills, led by a match-high 11 from senior Cat Dailey, as the Yale volleyball team hit at a scorching .368 clip en route to sweeping Ivy League rival Dartmouth on Friday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Freshman Kerry Clavadetscher recorded a double-double with 32 assists and 11 digs as the Bulldogs cruised past Big Green by set scores of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-14.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 15-2 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League. Dartmouth falls to 7-10 overall and 3-4 in the Ivy League with the loss.

“I was very pleased with our intensity and execution”, said Yale Head Coach Erin Appleman. “The entire team performed at a very high level.”

Sophomore Bridget Hearst, coming off of a 27-kill performance at Columbia last week, added nine kills on 17 swings for the Bulldogs. Senior Alexis Crusey and freshman Haley Wessels each had six kills, and sophomore Taylor Cramm notched five finishers. Sophomore Katie Cordell picked up three kills, Clavadetscher had two and senior Lydia Mailander rounded out the Yale attack with one kill.

Clavadetscher’s double-double was the third of her career, and her 11 digs matched her career-best total. Junior Kelly Ozurovich picked up 13 kills from the libero spot and added a career-high seven assists. Crusey had 12 digs and landed four aces without committing a service error. Cramm had a hand in five blocks as the Bulldogs outblocked Big Green, 7-3.

Yale came out firing in set one, notching the first six points of the match, highlighted by three kills from Cramm, to force a Dartmouth timeout. Big Green snapped that streak out of the stoppage, but the Bulldogs got right back on the offensive as tough serving by Crusey propelled them to a comfortable 13-1 advantage. Dartmouth would prevent any more long runs in the frame, but could not get its offense together as Yale coasted to a 25-12 set-one victory.

The Bulldogs stormed out of the gates again in set two, taking a quick 4-0 lead, but this time Big Green had an answer as they rallied to trail by just one point at 7-6. The one-point edge held up to a sore of 11-10, at which point Yale hammered out five consecutive scores to build a cushion with a 16-10 lead. Dartmouth would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Bulldogs pulled away with a 25-15 win to go up 2-0 in the match.

After the intermission, Yale continued its trend of fast starts with a 4-0 spurt to open set three. After Big Green finally got on the board, the Bulldogs strung together a six-point run, featuring two Crusey aces, to take a commanding 10-1 lead. Big Green got no closer than five in the remainder of the frame, and a Lydia Mailander kill made it official with Yale closing out the contest with a 25-14 victory.

The win was the third straight for Yale overall and the fourth in a row against Dartmouth. Coach Appleman is now a perfect 7-0 at home against Big Green.

The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow afternoon as historic rival Harvard comes to New Haven for a 4 p.m. contest. The Crimson swept at Brown tonight to move to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in Ivy League play.

report filed by Drew M. Kingsley, Yale Sports Publicity

Video by Steven Horn '10, Yale Sports Publicity