Yale Starts Slow, Finishes Strong Against Highlanders

Bridget Hearst and Erica Reetz combined for 25 kills and Kelly Ozurovich added a season-high 27 digs to lead the Yale women's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-21) win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, N.Y., on day one of the Blackbird Invitational.   With the victory, Yale improved to 4-0 on the season.

Despite the sweep, the Bulldogs fell behind 12-11 in the first set, but finished off NJIT with a 13-7 spurt.  Yale used similar runs in the last two sets to take the match.

"We seemed to start a little slow, but we showed some toughness and battled back," Yale head coach Erin Appleman said.

The Bulldogs scored 10 of the last 15 points of set two.  Hearst, who had four kills during the 10-point burst, finished off the second set off a set from Kendall Polan, who had 42 assists in the match. 

In the third set, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-7 lead.  The Highlanders pulled to within 24-21 before Taylor Cramm finished off the match with a kill. 

Janet Snell notched a team-best nine kills for NJIT, which fell to 1-6 on the year.

Ozurovich continued her strong defensive play with a match-best amount of digs.  Appleman said she continues to be impressed with the senior's play. 

"Kelly played great today," Appleman said.  "She reads the hitters very well."

The Bulldogs continue play tomorrow with two matches at the Blackbird Invitational.  Yale faces Georgetown at 12:30 p.m. and wraps up the weekend against host Long Island University at 5:30 p.m.