With their season entering its final stretch, the women’s volleyball team (7-13, 4-6 Ivy League) split a pair of sets last weekend against Penn (10-9, 4-6) and Princeton (10-10, 8-2) at home.
After getting swept in four out of their first five conference match-ups, Brown’s prowess has shone recently. The team’s sole two losses were against top seeds in the league — Cornell and Princeton. Now, the Bears sit one game out of a playoff spot with four contests remaining in the regular season.
“We come in week after week and identify the problem, and then we throw everything we’ve got at it, and week after week we’re getting better,” said Head Coach Taylor Virtue.
On Friday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center, the Bears swept Penn in three heavily contested sets, winning by finals of 25-23, 25-22 and 26-24. Though Bruno trailed late in each set — falling behind 20-17 in the first, 20-18 in the second and 23-20 in the third — the team managed to claw its way back every time.
The narrow wins were especially notable given Brown opened the season 0-6 in sets decided by two points. In addition to enhanced confidence, Virtue attributed the shift to specific practice exercises that play out “red zone” scenarios where the team is down and needs to come back.
“In every set against Penn, we were down in the ‘red zone’ and came back and won,” Virtue said. “So credit to them taking those drills seriously — because it doesn’t matter if you do them, it matters if you take it seriously and you come in and translate that into a match.”
Kayla Griebl ’25 led the Bears with 15 kills on Friday, while Mariia Sidorova ’26 followed with 14. Griebl’s .361 hitting percentage was her best mark since an October 2022 match at Dartmouth.
Griebl and Sidorova once again led the way on Sunday afternoon against Princeton, with Griebl putting up 14 kills and Sidorova erupting for a career-best 26-kill performance. Together, Griebl and Sidorova delivered 69 kills across the two matches.
“The Ivy League should be scared if they keep that up,” Virtue said.
Sidorova was quick to give credit to the rest of the team for her success. “Getting kills means that the whole team is working as a unit,” she said, shouting out the team’s back row and setter, rookie Julia Kakkis ’28, who racked up a career-high 53 assists in the match.
But despite Brown’s valiant efforts, they could not overcome the Tigers, who have now taken six consecutive Ivy contests.
In the first two sets on Sunday, the Bears once again found themselves trailing by just a few points late. But unlike what they accomplished against the Quakers, Brown couldn’t stage a successful comeback in either set — despite a show of support in the stands from the Brown baseball team and an especially rowdy football team.
With their backs against the wall, Brown took a hard-fought third set 25-20, setting up a fourth set which began in hotly contested fashion. But after Princeton went up 9-8, the Bears suddenly shifted into a second gear, berating the Tigers with kill after kill to win eight straight points, resulting in a resounding 25-15 victory.
Set four could be labeled as the ‘Sidorova Show.’ The junior recorded seven kills and two service aces in the span of 24 rallies, accounting for over a third of the points won by either side during that period.
But just when momentum seemed to be swinging in the Bears’ favor, Princeton pounced on Bruno early in the final set, seizing a commanding 10-4 lead. The Bears went on a run to bring the score to 12-9, but ultimately were unable to complete the comeback.
Still, the Bears battled blow for blow with one of the best teams in their league, proving their potential to compete and win should they advance to the Ivy League Tournament.
“Princeton’s a really complete team, so props to them for sticking through it. It’s hard to execute a reverse sweep and it’s also hard to stop one, and they did that today,” Virtue said following the match. “This is an exciting moment for us to learn from and get better and build on for next weekend and the weekend after that.”
“We’ve got everything we need on this team and in this room to win a championship,” she added.
Of the four games remaining, none will be bigger than Friday’s home showdown against Harvard’s team, who currently hold a one-game lead on the Bears in the race for the final postseason spot. Should Brown lose that match, their path to the playoffs would become far murkier. Should Brown win, every moment of the team’s final regular season matches against Dartmouth, Cornell and Columbia will be critical as they look to clinch.
Brown and Harvard will begin play at 7 p.m. on Friday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center. The match will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Linus is a Sports editor from New York City. He is a junior concentrating in English, and when he's out of The Herald office you can find him rooting for the Mets, watching Star Wars or listening to The Beach Boys.
