Johnson Named to All-Tournament Team

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. --The Bulldogs swept Cal State Fullerton to end the USF Challenge on a high note.  

The scores of the match were 25-14, 25-22 and 25-20.

Kelly Johnson, who was named to the all-tournament team, had a match-high 11 kills to put the Bulldogs above .500 entering the Ivy League schedule that begins Friday at home against Brown.  Yale is now 5-4 on the season.

After dropping a hard-fought 3-1 decision to North Dakota State earlier Saturday, the Bulldogs came out clicking against Fullerton.  

Down 7-6 in the first set, Yale scored 10 of the next 13 points.  The run started with Kelsey Crawford (26 assists) setting up Kaitlyn Gibbons and Maya Midzik on back to back kills, then Gibbons followed with an ace. 

Yale hit .303 in the first set.

Gibbons finished with eight kills and eight digs, while Midzik and Brittani Steinberg had six kills each.  Crawford and Kate Swanson both had 10 digs.

Earlier in the day, Yale lost to North Dakota State.  The scores of the match were 25-22, 25-17, 17-25 and 27-25. 

Johnson posted a match-high 19 kills, while Midzik had 13 kills and hit .545.  Crawford dished out 41 assists, her highest total since Yale's opening night win over Rhode Island.

North Dakota State took the first two sets, then Yale won the third after hitting .500 for the set. 

Gibbons started a run with a kill and ended it with an ace in the third as Yale scored five straight points.  Several points later, Swanson pushed Yale's lead to 11-6.

After an error, a Midzik kill and an ace from Jesse Ebner, Yale extended its lead to 18-11. Kelley Wirth gave Yale its biggest lead of the set -- nine -- with a kill to make it 21-12.   

In the fourth set, Yale jumped out to a 8-4 lead with two straight kills from Gibbons. 

North Dakota State (9-3) tied the set at 18, and the set was tied seven more times.

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity