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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With the 2009 regular
season coming to a close, the Bulldog faithful will have one more
weekend to cheer for the Yale volleyball team as Columbia and
Cornell visit the John J. Lee Amphitheater for the season’s
final home matches. The Friday match with the Lions and
Saturday’s showdown against Big Red are both slated for a 4
p.m. first serve. Yale enters the weekend at 18-4 overall and 8-3
in Ivy League play.
Last Time Out
The Bulldogs grabbed an emotional five-set victory at historic
rival Harvard on Friday night, but fell to Dartmouth in four sets
on Saturday. Senior outside hitter Alexis Crusey averaged 4.11
kills and 5.33 digs per set, notching double-doubles in both
contests, to earn a slot on the Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll for
the fourth time this season.
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
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.
Scouting Columbia (Nov. 13 – 4 p.m.)
A much improved team from last season’s squad that went
winless in Ivy League play, the Columbia Lions enter the weekend at
11-14 overall and 2-10 in the Ancient Eight. Freshman Megan Gaughn
has sparked the Lions’ offense with 4.01 kills per frame, the
second-highest average in the Ivy League. Kelsey Musselman, another
freshman, runs the offense from the setter spot and has distributed
7.44 assists per set. Defensively, Monique Roberts rates second in
the league with 0.99 blocks per set, and libero Ellie Thomas is
sixth in the league in digs at 4.71 per set.
Earlier This Season
Sophomore Bridget Hearst had a career-high 27 kills, the most in a
single match tallied by an current Bulldogs, and seniors Cat Dailey
and Alexis Crusey both recorded double-doubles as the Bulldogs down
the Lions in New York City on Oct. 17 by a score of 3-1.
Hearst’s 27 kills came on 35 swings with four errors for a
.657 hitting percentage. Her previous career mark, which she has
reached three times in her career, was 11 kills. Dailey had 18
kills and 15 digs to tally her seventh double-double of the season.
Crusey’s double-double was comprised of 13 kills and 20 digs.
Freshman Kerry Clavadetscher ran the offense and dished out 56
assists. Junior Kelly Ozurovich had 21 digs out of the libero slot,
sharing the match high with Columbia libero Ellie Thomas.
Scouting Cornell (Nov. 14 – 4 p.m.)
The Cornell Big Red, who will play at Brown on Friday before
visiting the Elm City, enters the weekend at 6-17 overall and 3-9
in Ivy League contests. The Big Red attack is led by Deveney Pula,
who is averaging 2.97 kills per set. Setter Jordan Reeder has doled
out 8.09 assists per frame, and Megan Mushovic has notched 4.79
digs per set as the libero.
Earlier This Season
The Bulldogs rebounded from a tough five-set loss to Penn by
sweeping Big Red in Ithaca on Oct. 16 by set scores of 26-24, 25-23
and 25-14. Senior Cat Dailey led all players with 12 kills.
Freshman Kerry Clavadetscher dished out a match-best 34 assists,
and junior libero Kelly Ozurovich picked up 25 digs in the
three-set match. Dailey complimented her 12 kills with nine digs.
Freshman Haley Wessels had 10 kills in the contest, and senior
Laurel Johnson added eight. Senior Alexis Crusey had six kills,
senior captain Julia Mailander tallied four and Clavadetscher
picked up two kills from the setter slot. Sophomore Bridget Hearst
added one kill to round out the Yale attack. As a team, the
Bulldogs hit .239 (43-15-117) for the match, while Big Red swung at
a .139 (33-16-122) clip. Yale won the blocking battle, 9-6.5, led
by four apiece from Crusey, Johnson and Wessels. The Bulldogs
landed seven service aces compared to three by Cornell.
The Chase for the Crown
The 11-0 Penn Quakers have already clinched a share of the 2009 Ivy
League Championship. Penn would need to lose its remaining three
contests- all of which are against teams the Quakers have
previously beaten in 2009- and the Bulldogs would have to win their
last three matches to salvage a split of the title.
On Crusey Control
One of the most dominant players in the Ivy League for the past
four seasons, senior outside hitter Alexis Crusey is currently
averaging 3.24 kills and 3.61 digs per frame, ranking eighth in the
Ancient Eight in both categories. The three-time first team All-Ivy
honoree ranks fourth in Yale history with 1,260 kills and seventh
in digs with 1,190 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 4.02 per set.
Dailey is also in the Ivy League top 10 in hitting percentage
(.264), service aces (0.32 per set) and digs (3.29 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 15th in all of
Division I with 5.34 digs per set this season. A two-time Ivy
League Weekly Honor Roll selection this season, Ozurovich currently
sits at seventh all-time in Yale history (tied with Alexis Crusey)
with 1,190 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 18-4 record. Yale currently leads all Ivy League teams
in blocks (2.15 per set), opponent hitting percentage (.145) and
digs (18.41 per set).
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 in that 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 10.76 assists per frame. The Seattle, Wash. native has also
contributed 2.03 digs per set, 28 blocks, 28 kills and 10 service
aces in 63 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.
Road Dogs
The Bulldogs are 6-2 in true road contests this season, and 8-3 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.
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.
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.
And One More for the Road
The Bulldogs will wrap up the 2009 regular season on Tuesday, Nov.
17 with an Ivy League contest at Brown. First serve from
Providence, R.I. is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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