Wirth's Season-High 16 Kills Lead Yale to Fourth Straight Win

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Bulldogs have depth.  And it was on display Saturday evening in their fourth straight victory.

The five-time defending Ivy League champs defeated Cornell in five as nine different Bulldogs had at least one kill and eight had at least one dig.  The Bulldogs improved to 8-4 overall, 3-0 in Ivy play, and finished the weekend as the only undefeated team in the conference.  

The scores of the match were 11-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-18 and 15-11. 

"We had a lot a players contribute tonight," Yale head coach Erin Appleman said.  "We had players come off the bench and play well when we needed it.  It was a team effort, and you need that to win a match like this. It's not easy to win a five-set match in this conference."

Kelley Wirth continued her standout rookie campaign with a season-high 16 kills -- including five in the final set, while classmate Kate Swanson had a career-best 19 digs.  But it was some help off the bench that lifted Yale.

Saturday's match featured a breakout performance from junior Brittani Steinberg, who missed most of last season due to injury.  Steinberg, who earned all-Ivy status as a freshman, had nine kills and three in the deciding frame.

Steinberg and Wirth went back-to-back with kills to begin the final set to ensure the Bulldogs would not trail in the fifth.  Wirth accounted for four straight Yale points to extend its lead to 6-4.

Junior Lucy Tashman produced a career-high five kills and gave Yale a 7-4 lead in the final set.  Steinberg immediately followed with another kill off a nifty dig from Kelly Johnson.  

Johnson led the Bulldogs with 29 assists and set up Tashman to push the score to 9-5. After a Cornell point, Steinberg smashed another kill that went untouched into the court.  The Big Red crept back to make it 10-8.

Maya Midzik and Johnson combined for block assists to extend Yale's lead to 11-8.  In fitting fashion, Wirth closed out the set with the final kill of the evening.

Yale hit .400 in the fourth set and jumped out to an early 7-3 lead. Steinberg laid flat out to keep a ball in play that eventually led to a Wirth kill and a Cornell timeout.  The Bulldogs kept it going.

Tashman had another kill, Kate Swanson served up an ace and Tashman joined with Johnson for block assists to bring the Yale lead to 10-3.  Wirth, Gray Milas and Tashman would keep Yale's lead at seven with kills.  The Bulldogs would cruise from there as their lead would go as high as nine in the set.

Claire Feeley stepped up in the third set.  With the Bulldogs needing a win to keep the match going, Feeley combined with Wirth to give Yale a 10-7 edge and begin a 14-5 run. Feeley capped the spurt to make it 23-12, and two points later, closed out the set with another kill.

Kelsey Crawford added 10 assists, nine digs and five kills with a solo block for the Bulldogs, who open the road portion of the conference schedule next weekend. The Bulldogs have matches at Dartmouth and Harvard.  Both teams have opened the Ivy seasons with 2-1 records.

Report filed by Ernie Bertothy, Yale Sports Publicity

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