Yale Remains Tied for First Entering Final Weekend of Ivy Play

ITHICA, N.Y. -- Mollie Rogers and Kelly Johnson posted double-doubles and hit over .300 to lead the Bulldogs to a sweep of Cornell on Saturday evening.  

Yale (14-7, 10-2 Ivy) remain tied for first with Harvard entering the final weekend of the Ivy League regular season.

Rogers finished with 16 kills and 11 digs, while Johnson had 13 kills and 20 digs. Johnson has had at least 10 kills in five of her last six matches. 

The scores of the match were 25-22, 27-25 and 25-20.  

Up 4-2 in the first, Yale took command with eight of the next 10 points.  Maya Midzik, who had 13 kills, connected on back-to-back kills to start the run.

"I thought we played really well, and we're continuing to improve our game," Yale head coach Erin Appleman said.  

Later in the set, Rogers and Jesse Ebner combined on block assists to give Yale its largest lead of the set - 17-10.   

For the second straight night, Yale was aided by its defense.  Four different Bulldogs had at least 10 digs and four had at least one block.  

Maddie Rudnick and Kelsy Crawford struck for 13 digs each.

"Our defense really picked it up when we needed it," Appleman said.

In the second set, Johnson snapped a 24-all tie with a kill, then did it again with the set tied at 25 to give Yale the lead for good.  A Cornell error ended the set and gave Yale a commanding 2-0 lead.

The Bulldogs continued their strong play at the net in the third set. Cornell trimmed Yale's lead to 17-15 before Yale put the Big Red away.

It started with Johnson, who delivered a kill after a set up from Crawford, who had 42 assists. The teams traded points, then Johnson came through again to up Yale's lead to four.  On the next point, Midzik's solo block pushed the Bulldogs' lead to 21-16 and give the Bulldogs firm control.  

Kaitlyn Gibbons (five kills) put the set at match point and Midzik ended it with another kill. 

The Bulldogs close out the Ivy regular season with home matches next weekend. Yale hosts Princeton this Friday at 7 p.m. and Penn on Saturday evening at 7.

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity