The women’s volleyball team went on the road for the last time this season, bringing two wins back to Brown after a weekend of matches. The squad conquered Cornell and Columbia, beating both teams 3-1.
The Bears (11-13, 6-6 Ivy) kicked off the weekend by traveling to Ithaca Friday.
Brown won the first two sets, but then slipped in the third before finally recovering in the fourth. Shirin Tooloee ’18 dictated the gameplay with her 17 kills. These kills factored into the team’s overall .278 hitting percentage. The Big Red only posted a .168 percentage.
Several times throughout the match, Bruno held off Cornell’s rally attempts. Kathryn Conner ’15 laid the foundation for Bruno’s defense with 14 digs, while Smith added four blocks.
Smith said both games started off rough, with the players neglecting to turn to each other for support. But “it was apparent towards the end of the games that we started playing together, acknowledging one another and inevitably winning.”
Payton Smith ’17 said Cornell (5-17, 2-10) played “a sort of untraditional, scrappy style of play.” Bruno responded to this approach by “speeding up the sets” and “dictating the play of the game,” Smith said.
The Bears took their momentum into Saturday’s game against Columbia (7-14, 3-9). Smith said the match began on a low note with a loss in the first set. But Bruno did not lie down, scraping by in the next three sets and winning 25-23, 25-22 and 25-22.
Maryl Vanden Bos ’15 said the Bears came out quietly, “but after that, we started playing like we know we can … changing up our shots, taking aggressive swings and moving our feet on defense.”
Bruno’s seniors stepped up, leading the team in the battle against Columbia. Maddie Lord ’15 came through with 14 kills, while Taylor Bantle ’15 contributed another eleven. Rachele Killian ’16 supported her teammates with a staggering 24 assists. The Bears’ win was major for the seniors, as Vanden Bos said her class had never won a match at Columbia’s gym.
The women’s team will conclude its season at home this weekend against Penn (8-15, 5-7) and Princeton (13-9, 8-4).
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