Harvard, Dartmouth Await Bulldogs This Weekend
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Last Friday
night’s loss at unbeaten Penn may have dampened hopes of
repeating as Ivy League Champions, but the Yale volleyball team
looks to keep on the heels of the 9-0 Quakers this weekend with a
pair of Ancient Eight matches at Harvard and Dartmouth. The
Bulldogs sit at 7-2 in the Ivy League, two matches behind Penn with
five left to play, and 17-3 overall in 2009.
Last Time Out
Yale dropped a four-set decision at Penn on Friday but rebounded
with a convincing sweep at Princeton on Saturday to salvage a
weekend split. Senior outside hitter Alexis Crusey averaged 4.43
kills and 3.14 digs per set, notching double-doubles in both
contests, to earn a slot on the Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll for
the third time this season.
Road Dogs
The Bulldogs are 5-1 in true road contests this season, and 7-2 in
all matches away from the John J. Lee Amphitheater in 2009. Yale
went 8-4 in road matches last season, including a 7-0 Ivy League
mark on the road, and notched four wins in five matches on neutral
courts.
Scouting Harvard (Nov. 6 – 7 p.m.)
The Harvard Crimson enters this weekend at 10-11 overall and 6-4
in Ivy League play. Harvard’s balanced offensive attack is
led by two of the most efficient hitters in the Ancient Eight:
Sandra Lynne Fryhofer (.319, second) and Anne Carroll Ingersoll
(.303, fifth). Ingersoll is also the Ivy League leader with 1.08
blocks per frame. Lily Durwood runs the offense to the tune of 9.63
assists per set, and Christine Wu ranks fourth in the Ivy League
with 5.14 digs per set.
Earlier This Season
Seniors Alexis Crusey and Cat Dailey each slammed double-figure
kills- a match-best 12 kills from Crusey and 10 for Dailey- to
guide the Yale to a sweep in New Haven by set scores of 25-23,
25-18 and 25-21. Freshman Haley Wessels added eight kills for Yale,
and sophomore Bridget Hearst contributed seven. Hearst also landed
five service aces, including four straight to spark a Yale run in
the first set. Sophomore Taylor Cramm notched four finishers on
eight errorless swings, and freshman Kerry Clavadetscher added
three kills from the setter slot. Clavadetscher, the reigning Ivy
League Rookie of the Week, dished out a match-best 38 assists.
Defensively, junior libero Kelly Ozurovich shared the team high in
digs, matching Crusey’s nine. Dailey had seven digs, and
Clavadetscher and sophomore Laurel Casey each notched five digs.
Senior Lydia Mailander picked up two digs, and Hearst and Wessels
had one apiece. Wessels had a hand in a match-best five of the
Bulldogs’ six blocks. Anne Carroll Ingersoll led Harvard with
nine kills. Lily Durwood shouldered the setting duties for the
Crimson and dished out 30 assists. Libero Christine Wu had the
match high with 14 digs.
Scouting Dartmouth (Nov. 7 – 4 p.m.)
Dartmouth, who will host Brown on Friday before challenging the
Bulldogs, enters the weekend at 9-11 overall and 5-5 in the Ivy
League. Madeline Baird leads the Big Green offensively with 3.55
kills per set, the sixth-highest total in the Ancient Eight. Setter
Kendall Houston rates at sixth in the league with 7.57 assists per
frame.
Earlier This Season
Eight different players recorded kills, led by a match-high 11
from senior Cat Dailey, as the Bulldogs hit at a scorching .368
clip en route to sweeping Dartmouth. Freshman Kerry Clavadetscher
recorded a double-double with 32 assists and 11 digs as Yale
cruised past Big Green by set scores of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-14.
Sophomore Bridget Hearst added nine kills on 17 swings. 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.
The Chase for the Crown
Friday’s loss at Penn means that Yale no longer controls its
own destiny, as the Bulldogs, if they were to win their remaining
five contests, would also need the 9-0 Quakers to drop two of its
final five matches to split the Ivy League Title. Both Yale and
Penn have previously defeated all five of their remaining
opponents.
On Crusey Control
One of the most dominant players in the Ivy League for the past
three seasons, senior outside hitter Alexis Crusey is currently
averaging 3.11 kills and 3.36 digs per frame, ranking in the top 10
in the Ancient Eight in both categories. The three-time first team
All-Ivy honoree ranks fourth in Yale history with 1,223 kills and
ninth in digs with 1,142 entering this weekend. Prior to the Ivy
League season, Crusey grabbed All-Tournament Team honors at both
the Yale Invitational and the American Volleyball Classic and took
home Most Valuable Player laurels at the Yale Classic. Her
performance at the Yale Classic also merited Ivy League Player of
the Week honors.
Cat Power
Senior outside hitter Cat Dailey, the reigning Ivy League Player
of the Year, has picked up where she left off in 2008, as she
currently leads the Ancient Eight in kills with 4.12 per set.
Dailey is also in the Ivy League top 10 in hitting percentage
(.277), service aces (0.34 per set) and digs (3.23 per set). She
was named Ivy League Player of the Week and a CVU.com Top Performer
in the first week of action this season after hitting at a sizzling
.487 clip, notching 39 kills on 78 attempts with just one error
(4.88 kills per set) en route to being named the Most Valuable
Player of the Yale Invitational. Dailey recently added to her list
of accolades as a member of the ESPN the Magazine Academic
All-District First Team.
The Wizard
Junior libero Kelly Ozurovich reached a milestone in the Oct. 2
sweep of Brown, as she tallied her 1,000th career dig. Ozurovich,
an All-Ivy honoree in both of her previous seasons at Yale,
currently ranks second in the Ivy League and 14th in all of
Division I with 5.29 digs per set this season. A two-time Ivy
League Weekly Honor Roll selection this season, Ozurovich currently
sits at 10th all-time in Yale history with 1,120 digs.
The Ministry of Defense
As potent as the Yale offense has been thus far in 2009, the
Bulldogs’ defense has certainly done its part in guiding the
squad to its 17-3 record. Yale currently leads all Ivy League teams
in blocks (2.26 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.133),
while rating second in digs with 17.98 per frame.
An Instant Impact
After playing an integral part in the Bulldogs’ 2-0 road
weekend at Cornell and Columbia on Oct. 16 and 17, Kerry
Clavadetscher was recognized by the Ivy League as its Rookie of the
Week. The freshman setter, who averaged 12.86 assists per set in
seven frames of action last weekend, has now earned the distinction
twice in 2009. For the season, Clavadetscher has been the
second-most prolific setter in the Ivy League with an average of
10.75 assists per frame. The Seattle, Wash. native has also
contributed 2.07 digs per set, 25 blocks, 25 kills and eight aces
in 55 sets of action.
The Hits Kept on Coming
Sophomore Bridget Hearst turned in a remarkable performance in
Yale’s four-set win at Columbia on Oct. 17. Hearst tallied a
match-best 27 kills on 35 swings with just four errors for a
stellar .657 hitting percentage. Her 27 kills marked the most by a
Yale player since Shannon Farrell ’07 totaled 31 kills in
five sets against Cornell in the 2004 Ivy League Playoff. Hearst
was recognized for her performance as a member of the Ivy League
Weekly Honor Roll.
Homecoming Queen
Playing in her home state of New Jersey, senior Laurel Johnson hit
a commanding .424 (29-4-59) as the Bulldogs swept a trio of matches
on Sept. 18-19 to win the Seton Hall Invitational. The Cherry Hill,
N.J. native earned All-Tournament and Ivy League Player of the Week
honors on the back of averaging 3.22 kills per set and amassing a
tournament-best 1.22 blocks per set.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Yale’s straight-set win over Binghamton on Sept. 26 marked
the Bulldogs’ third victory this season against an opponent
that was selected to win its conference in the preseason
coaches’ poll. The Bearcats, representing the America East
Conference, join Fairfield from the Metro Atlantic Athletic
Conference and the Patriot League preseason favorite, American
University, on the Bulldogs’ hit list.
This Is Our House
Yale is 10-1 in home matches this season. The Bulldogs went 9-1 in
the Elm City last season, including a 6-1 home record against Ivy
League competition. Only Penn has defeated Yale at the John J. Lee
Amphitheater in each of the last two seasons.
Getting Back on Track
Including the sweep at Princeton on Oct. 31, Yale has won eight
straight matches following a loss. The Bulldogs were last defeated
in consecutive matches in September of 2008 at the Penn State
Classic against the eventual-National Champion Lady Lions and Saint
Louis, a team that finished last season ranked at No. 21 in the
nation. Yale’s last four wins following a defeat have been in
straight sets.
Starting Strong
Yale’s 12-1 start to the 2009 campaign was the best in
program history. The 2005 Bulldogs, who previously owned the best
start in Yale history, started 11-1 en route to a 20-4 (11-3 Ivy)
finish. Yale’s 10-1 tally in non-conference contests this
season signifies the best non-league mark for a Yale squad since
2001, when the non-conference schedule was shortened in favor of a
14-match Ivy League slate.
High School Heroines
PrepVolleyball.com, the Internet’s first and only website
dedicated to covering club and high school volleyball on a national
level, selected the Yale Class of 2013 as a High Honorable Mention
in its annual rankings of the nation’s top recruiting
classes, as determined by a panel of over 100 collegiate coaches.
The Yale class of 2013 consists of Anya Cekauskas, Kerry
Clavadetscher, Julia Cortopassi and Haley Wessels. Two of the four
Ivy League recruiting classes to ever receive High Honorable
Mention status have been Yale squads. The Bulldogs’ Class of
2010 (current seniors Alexis Crusey, Laurel Johnson, Julia
Mailander and Lydia Mailander) also earned the distinction in
2006.
Trend Setters
Yale is the only Ivy League volleyball program to notch a win in
the NCAA Championships. The 2004 Bulldogs, the first Ancient Eight
squad to host an NCAA Championship match, knocked off Albany in
five sets to tally the first postseason win in conference history.
The 2008 Yale team then defeated Ohio in the University Park (Pa.)
Subregional to become the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA
Championship match away from its home court.
State Troopers
Including the sweeps of Fairfield, Central Connecticut State and
Quinnipiac this season, the Bulldogs are 96-29 all-time against
opponents from the state of Connecticut. Yale’s most frequent
opponent from the Nutmeg State has been the University of Hartford,
against which the Bulldogs are 21-3. The University of Connecticut
has had the most success against the Bulldogs among in-state rivals
with a 12-4 advantage in the series. Head Coach Erin Appleman is
11-2 versus the Constitution State, with both losses coming at the
hands of the Huskies.
Beaten By the Best
The Bulldogs’ record-setting 2008 season ended in the NCAA
Championship Second Round at the hands of No. 1 Penn State. The
match, which was held on the Lady Lions’ home court, was the
34th consecutive sweep for the eventual national champions, who
dropped only two sets all season en route to a 38-0 finish. In
total, five of Yale’s six losses in 2008 came at the hands of
teams that advanced to the NCAA Championship tournament.
On the Court and in the Classroom
The American Volleyball Coaches Association has announced that the
Bulldogs are among the recipients of the AVCA Team Academic Award.
The award has been presented annually since 1993 to collegiate and
high school volleyball teams that have displayed excellence in the
classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30
cumulative team grade-point average.
Dig, Set, Tweet!
The Yale volleyball team has a new home in cyberspace this season,
courtesy of Twitter, at http://www.twitter.com/YaleVolleyball.
The Bulldogs’ Twitter page will feature news, information and
live updates during most road matches.
2009 Schedule Notes
The 2009 schedule consists of 13 home matches and 12 road
matches…The Bulldogs’ non-conference slate includes
four opponents to whom they have never lost (Binghamton,
Quinnipiac, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech), and an opponent they have
never beaten (American)…Colorado and New Jersey Institute of
Technology are both first-time opponents for Yale…Under
Coach Appleman (2003-present), Yale has only played five of its
2009 non-conference opponents (Binghamton, Central Connecticut
State, Georgetown, Hofstra, Quinnipiac). The Bulldogs are a
combined 7-0 in those matches…Hofstra (Sept. 18) is the only
repeat opponent from the 2008 non-conference schedule…Yale
will only play two matches at the American Volleyball Classic
(American and Virginia Tech). The fourth team at the event, NJIT,
will challenge the Bulldogs the following weekend at the Seton Hall
Tournament… Last season, Yale and Brown played a
home-and-home series to open Ivy League play. This year, the series
is split as the first and last matches of the Ancient Eight
schedule…The Bulldogs will play three in-state opponents
(Central Connecticut State, Fairfield, Quinnipiac), the most Nutmeg
State foes they have challenged since 2005. Yale did not face any
Connecticut squads in 2007 or 2008.
Team Up to Fight Cancer
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the volleyball team has
combined efforts with the field hockey and women’s soccer
teams this October for the first-ever “Team Up to Fight
Cancer” initiative. The teams sold t-shirts and collected
donations at home athletic events throughout the weekend of Oct. 2
to benefit the Yale Cancer Center, with the net proceeds being
designated for breast cancer research.
Beach Blanket Broadcast
The Bulldogs relocated their morning practice on Friday, Aug. 28
from the familiar confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheater to
scenic Hammonasset Beach in Madison, Conn. The defending Ivy League
Champions hit the sand at Meig’s Point with the crew of the
Fox 61 Morning News as a part of the “Zip
Trip” segment, which highlights Connecticut-based
attractions. Coach Appleman and members of the Yale team fielded
questions from anchor Jeff Valin, while host Logan Byrnes took a
few practice swings with the team.
Seniors’ Last Stand
The Bulldogs are back in action next weekend for the final home
matches of 2009. Yale hosts Columbia on Friday afternoon and
Cornell on Saturday. Both matches are slated for a 4 p.m. first
serve. The contests, which will be featured on Yale All-Access,
will be the final home contests in the careers of seniors Alexis
Crusey, Cat Dailey, Laurel Johnson, Julia Mailander and Lydia
Mailander.
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report filed by Drew M. Kingsley, Yale Sports Publicity