PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Bulldogs came out swinging, dominated the middle and made an early statement Friday night.

Yale hit .419 in the first set and seized control en route to its third straight road win - a 3-0 conference-opener victory at Brown.  Yale has won four of it last five matches and improved to 5-5 overall.

The Bulldogs controlled the net with three solo blocks and 12 block assists, while Brown did not have a block.

The scores of the match were 25-14, 25-20 and 25-23.

Mollie Rogers continued her dominance at the net with a match-high 17 kills, a season-high for a three-set match.  Rogers hit .400, grabbed seven digs and added two aces.  

"Everyone played well tonight, but I thought Mollie stepped up her game and played like a captain," Yale head coach Erin Appleman said.

There were plenty of standout performances.  

Claire Feeley was a force in the middle.  Feeley produced a career-high six kills, hit .444 and had a solo block and six block assists.  

"Claire was great in the middle and continues to improve," Appleman said.

Maddie Rudnick had 17 digs and hit double figures for the sixth time this season.  Tori Shepherd continued her steady play with seven digs.

There was no shortage of hitting stars for Yale. Yale hit .340 as a team.

Kelly Johnson had nine kills and hit .318, while Maya Midzik had five kills and hit .385.  

Midzik jumpstarted a run in the first set with a solo block to Yale an 8-4 lead and force a Brown timeout.  The Bulldogs kept firing, with kills coming from Kaitlyn Gibbons, Kelsey Crawford, Johnson and Feeley and eventually upped the lead to 15-7.  The Bulldogs' largest lead was 24-12. 

In the second set, it was Rogers and Feeley again.  With a 10-9 lead, the Bulldogs created space with back-to-back kills from Rogers and Feeley - then another from Rogers - to take a 13-9 lead.  

Brown would score the next points before the Bulldogs responded with another spurt.  Two attack errors, and an ace from Crawford, and another error gave Yale four straight points and a 17-11 edge.  Crawford now has at least one ace in eight of her first 10 matches. 

With the third set tied at 21, Rogers blasted a kill and followed with an ace to give Yale the lead for good.  Johnson sealed the win with two straight kills to end the match.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend at Harvard on Friday and the following night at Dartmouth.

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity