NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Bulldogs defeated Dartmouth 3-0 on Friday evening and earned their 20th win of the season. The scores of the match were 27-25, 25-19 and 25-18.
With the win, Yale improved to 20-2 overall, 12-1 in Ivy League play, and 9-0 at home this season. The victory also marked the fifth time the Bulldogs have won at least 20 matches in a season since 2005.
Audrey Leak led the Bulldogs with 11 kills, while
Fatima Samb added 10 and
Gigi Barr had nine.
Carly Diehl had 39 assists and nine digs for the Bulldogs, who finish the regular season tomorrow night at home against Harvard with a chance to clinch their third Ivy title in the last four seasons.
Leak tied the first set at 25-25 with her sixth kill to that point and the Big Green followed with two straight errors to give Yale the first set victory. From there, Yale gained momentum and took control of the second set.
Yale hit .333 as a team in the second and led 15-9 after a kill from
Mila Yarich, who had eight kills and eight digs in the match. The Bulldogs closed out the set with a kill from Samb and block assists from Diehl and Leak.
Yale used an 8-0 run in the third set to take a 20-14 lead. Samb had five kills and two block assists later in the set, while
Lauren Kellen came off the bench to pick up three key kills and a block assist.
Malie Somera had a team-best 15 digs for the Bulldogs, who held a 45-35 edge in the match.
Cara Shultz had five kills and seven digs.
