The volleyball team (11-9, 3-5 Ivy) has had three consecutive weekends when it has followed a Friday night win with a Saturday loss. The latest split came last weekend on the road against Columbia (6-12, 0-8 Ivy) on Friday and Cornell (7-11, 6-2 Ivy) on Saturday. But unlike the previous two splits, in which the Bears attributed the losses to their own poor performances, the players felt they played well against the Big Red, and the loss was due to "ball handling mistakes that can be easily corrected," according to hitter Lyndse Yess '09.
The weekend started strong for the Bears in their first away Ivy League match against Columbia. Brown's defense returned to playing at its true level in this match, after a disappointing performance in the same match against Princeton on Oct. 18. The Bears' defense held the Lions to a negative .025 hitting percentage in the first game and a zero percentage in the second. On the offensive end, the Bears clipped a .143 in the first game and a match-high .424 in the second game. The combination of tough defense and strong offense proved to be too much for the Lions and both games ended lopsidedly 25-14 in the Bears' favor.
Although the Lions came back in the third game to pull away with a 25-22 win, the Bears were not fazed in the fourth game, when the offense picked up again and ended the match with a 25-19 win.
"We came out really strong in the first two games," Yess said. "Columbia came out strong in the third game, but we adjusted to their hitters in the fourth."
There were plenty of standouts in this game, including Yess, who recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 11 assists. Megan Toman '11 also had a strong offensive game with a team-high 17 kills, along with 14 digs, three assists and two service aces. Captain Natalie Meyers '09 was solid as usual with 40 assists.
"(Our win) started with the defense," Yess said. "Everyone did her job."
With one win under its belt, the team traveled to Ithaca to face off against the Big Red. Brown opened the match strong as the team won six consecutive points to separate itself at 11-5, a lead the defense kept until the very end, with the Bears winning the first game, 25-18.
But the Big Red fought back in the second game. The two teams traded points, but a few critical errors cost the Bears the second set, 25-21. With the match tied at 1-1, Cornell continued its strong play in the third game, jumping on an early 7-3 lead.
But the Bears bounced back and the two teams fought for the lead for the rest of the game. Bruno had its golden chance when it played for match point with a 24-23 lead, but Cornell's Emily Borman tied the match with a kill to even the score. The Big Red then got a break when the Bears committed an attacking error.
With the match slipping away to Cornell, Yess came up with a huge kill to tie the game once again at 25-25. However, the Big Red returned with a kill of their own to take back the advantage. In the last point played, the Bears surrendered the game with a ball handling error, and the Big Red took the third game 27-25. The Bears recorded a higher hitting percentage in this game, .412 to Cornell's .286. But the unfortunate errors in overtime cost the Bears the game.
Down by one game, the Bears fought tenaciously for a comeback in the fourth. But Cornell came out on top again with a narrow margin, 25-23, for the final win.
"We played with good intensity," said Head Coach Diane Short of the match against Cornell. "We had some ball-handling at bad timing (during the match)."
Yess, who recorded another double-double, with 14 kills and a team-high 16 digs, echoed Short, saying that, "We played really hard but it was just one of those games."
The other two hitters, Toman and Brianna Williamson '11, recorded 17 and 15 kills, respectively. Meyers lead the team with 54 assists, a season high.
The team will be on the road again next weekend as it faces off against Dartmouth and Harvard, two teams the Bears have already played at home this season. In their previous encounters, the Bears edged Harvard 3-1 but lost to Dartmouth 1-3.
"(In the home game), Dartmouth adjusted to us and we didn't adjust to them," Yess said. "Both teams have styles similar to us, so it would be close matchups."
