Women's Volleyball: Big Green, Crimson next to visit Dillon

The women’s volleyball team will try to remain undefeated in the Ivy League this weekend as it finishes a four-game homestand with matches against Harvard and Dartmouth. Harvard (7-4 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) and Dartmouth (9-3, 1-0) opened their Ivy League seasons with a head-to-head matchup last weekend, which the Big Green won in five close games.

The Tigers (8-5, 1-0) also earned a dramatic victory last weekend, coming back from being down two games to one to beat Penn 15-9 in the fifth game.

“Coming back and winning such a tight match will give us more confidence going into our upcoming games,” junior outside hitter Lydia Rudnick said.

As a result of their performance in the comeback, two Tigers earned weekly Ivy League individual honors. Senior captain and middle blocker Cathryn Quinn had 15 kills and eight blocks to earn the title of Ivy League Player of the Week, while freshman setter Ginny Willis recorded 48 assists in her league debut to win Rookie of the Week honors.

A first team All-Ivy selection in 2010, Quinn is among the league leaders in a variety of categories. She averages 3.43 kills and 1.13 blocks per game and leads the league with 4.47 points per game. Willis has already made an impact in her rookie season, ranking fourth in assists with 9.27 per game.

“Cathryn has really stepped up this year as a senior captain,” Rudnick said. “She is doing a great job leading the team on and off the court, and her playing can speak for itself. Ginny has been doing great, running the offense and making sure to spread the ball out and give it to different hitters.”

Rudnick, also on the 2010 All-Ivy first team, recovered from an injury and is making a major impact for the Tigers. Rudnick has 82 kills in limited time for a team-best 3.57 kills per game. Junior right side hitter Jennifer Palmquist is coming off one of the best matches of her career, in which she hit .476 during the Penn match and recorded 12 kills and seven blocks.

“Jenn did amazing against Penn, making use of every set she got and being a very vocal leader on the court, which has been very beneficial,” Rudnick said.

The Crimson offense is set by Beth Kinsella, who is second in the league with 10.05 assists per game. Middle blocker Teresa Skelly ranks fourth with 1.09 blocks per game and fifth with a .323 attack percentage, and defensive specialist Christine Wu averages 5.47 digs per game, good for second in the Ivy League.

The Big Green is led by outside hitter Madeline Baird, libero Amber Bryant and middle blocker Annie Villanueva. Baird leads the league in kills with 3.73 per game while averaging 3.34 digs per game. Bryant leads Dartmouth in digs, fifth in the league with 4.89 per game. Villanueva tops the Ivy League with a .384 attack percentage.

Dartmouth is riding a five-game win streak, which could reach six by the time the team visits Princeton if it wins at Penn on Friday night.

“Both Harvard and Dartmouth are strong teams, and we will have to go out and play hard against them because they are sure to come out fired up,” Rudnick said. “But if we play steadily and keep them from getting on runs, I think we will do well this weekend.”

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Friday’s night match against Harvard will be at 7 p.m., and Saturday’s matinee will begin at 4 p.m. Both contests will take place at Dillon Gymnasium, which was packed for last week’s rivalry game.

“Getting to play in our home gymnasium again this weekend will be great because we can keep the intensity and excitement of the last match against Penn and bring it to our games against Harvard and Dartmouth,” Rudnick said. “Also, if we have a crowd as amazing as we did against Penn, then it’s game over.”