The four seniors on the volleyball team closed out their careers on Tuesday night with a narrow four-game loss against Yale. Katie Lapinski '08, Lizzie Laundy '08, Rachel Lipman '08 and Julie Mandolini-Trummel '08 all played valuable minutes in the team's final match of the year, which ended 25-30, 30-26, 18-30 and 27-30.
"I've had a great time playing and had a very great senior year experience," said Lipman, who tallied 18 digs.
Lapinski, the team's captain, led the team in digs for the 21st time this season, putting up 21 digs to go along with two aces. She finished the season with 5.71 digs per game and 525 digs overall, which are second- and third-best for an individual season in team history, respectively. Her career average of 4.79 digs per game smashed the old record of 3.85 to give her another mark in the Brown record book.
Mandolini-Trummel finished the season with 2.54 kills per game and a team-leading .252 hitting percentage after turning in 14 kills and four blocks. She grabbed the Brown record for career hitting percentage at .278.
"It's a world of a difference from the beginning of the season to tonight," Mandolini-Trummel said of their league-opening match against Yale, which they lost in three straight games. "We adjusted much better tonight."
After the first game the Bears adjusted to Yale's big blockers by increasing their coverage behind their hitters, a strategy that contributed to their victory in the second game. Right side hitter Lillie Cohn '09 added to the attack with some well-placed tips and hitting combinations through the middle on her way to a match total of 14 kills.
"Lillie can really perform," Mandolini-Trummel said. "Our junior class is just phenomenal."
Cohn returned the favor, adding, "Our seniors stepped up and showed amazing leadership (during the game)."
Cohn had some crucial kills to give Brown a lead after a 21-21 tie, and Lyndse Yess '09 finished the game with a kill and an ace.
For the last two games of the match, the Bulldogs outblocked Brown 14-5, which proved to be the big difference.
"We didn't have the energy we had in some of our other wins," Laundy said. "But we have improved throughout the season, especially with our winning streak in the middle ... I'm going to miss seeing my teammates every day."
In the fourth game, Brown got some good shots in before Yale reached 30. Down 6-9, Cohn drilled Yale libero Kelly Ozurovich for a kill. Ozurovich had to shake out her hand after her dig attempt in order to regain feeling. After Natalie Meyers '09 tallied an ace off her powerful jump serve to put Brown up 16-14, she set Megan Toman '11 for another spectacular hit. Toman hit a Yale player in the face to give Brown its last big lead before the Bulldogs put together a 14-6 run to set a comfortable distance for the win. Toman finished with 10 hits, and Meyers put up 44 assists to go with 18 digs.
"Our record didn't reflect what a great group of girls we had this season," Meyers said.
Brown finished fifth in the Ivy League, winning the tiebreaker with Cornell, who had a similar 5-9 league record, after beating the Big Red twice this season.
