Wirth, Steinberg and Crawford Post Double Doubles in Win

PHILADELPHIA -- The Bulldogs exploded to hit .374 as a team and defeated Penn, 3-1, in a road victory on Saturday evening.

The scores of the match were 25-20, 22-25, 25-18 and 25-12.  The Bulldogs improved to 12-9 overall and 7-5 in the Ivy League.  Penn is now 5-7 in league play.

Yale, the five-time defending Ivy League champs, took command of the match and hit .452 in the first set. 

Kelley Wirth and Brittani Steinberg both had a match-high 17 kills and went for double doubles.  Wirth added 16 digs, while Steinberg had 14.  

Kelsey Crawford had 53 assists and 14 digs, while Kelly Johnson had 15 kills, three digs and three blocks.   Maya Midzik had 10 kills and hit .562 with four blocks. 

On defense, Kate Swanson had 21 digs and the Bulldogs led in the category 83-62.

The Bulldogs scored six of the final seven points to close out the final set.  Yale scored five straight points to take a commanding 11-5 lead and never trailed from that point.  

Midzik put Yale ahead 18-9.  It was blocks from Johnson and Midzik that gave Yale its biggest lead -- 23-12.  Swanson ended the match with an ace. 

In the third set, Yale led 14-13 and scored five of the next six points capped by kills from Johnson and Steinberg.  Wirth closed out the set with a kill. 

Johnson led the charge in the first set.  After her kill tied the set at 15, Wirth followed with one of Yale's seven aces.  Johnson then went back-to-back to put Yale up 18-15.  Steinberg increased the lead to 23-18.  

The Bulldogs host Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend to close out the Ivy League regular season schedule.

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity