Volleyball falls in five-set thriller to Yale

Friday, October 22

Providence, R.I.

7:00 PM

Brown University

Yale

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Volleyball falls in five-set thriller to Yale

10/22/2021 10:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball's win streak came to an end in a thrilling five-set loss to Yale at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Friday night. Four Bears finished with double-digit kills in the loss the Bulldogs.

Kate Sheire led the way for Brown (14-4, 7-1 Ivy) with 21 kills, matching her career-high that she set in the first meeting against Yale (12-5, 5-3 Ivy). Beau Vanderlaan finished the night with a career-best 17 kills, hitting a team-high .343. Sophia miller notched another double-double with 16 kills and 18 digs. Kayla Griebl fell just shy of a double-double with nine kills and 13 digs.

After dishing out a career-best 53 assists in the win over Princeton, Cierra Jenkins topped that with 56 against the Bulldogs and added 11 digs.

On defense, the Bears finished the night with nine blocks and 93 digs. Vanderlaan led the way at the net with six blocks and Victoria Vo had a team-best 22 digs. Kaitlyn Wong added 17 digs on the night.

"I think we would go on a run and, it wasn't that we were relaxed, but instead of expecting the fight to come back at us, we were hoping that eventually [Yale] would break," said head coach Ahen Kim. "We have been imposing our will recently but our speed was neutralized. We had nine reception errors and when you aren't passing well it changes the complexion of the game."

In a game that featured 26 ties and 11 lead changes, the first set started out uneventful as Yale held Brown to .057 hitting and hit .500 on their way to a 25-17 set win.

Set two went back-and-forth with Brown taking an 11-7 lead after a 4-1 run. Kills by Griebl, Vanderlaan, Gabby Derrick and a block by Vanderlaan and Jenkins put the Bears ahead. After going up 13-9 with a block by Derrick and Miller, Yale scored six of the next eight points to tie the set at 15.

Brown went on a run with two kills from Miller highlighting the run as the Bears went up 22-17. In prime position to tie the match, Brown let Yale back in with a 5-0 run. The Bears got a break with a service error from the Bulldogs and two points later had set point after a kill from Sheire. Yale fought off the set point after an error from Brown and took the next two points to win the set 26-24.

With their backs against the wall, the Bears fell behind 6-2 early but used a 4-1 run to pull within one. Yale went back up three but another 4-1 run tied the set 10-10. With the Bulldogs going up 15-12, Brown went to Sheire. The sophomore scored four-straight points for the Bears as part of a 5-1 run to put Brown up 17-16. Four more points from Brown made the score 21-17 and this time Brown took care of business, taking advantage of two Yale errors and getting a set-ending kill from Miller.

Kills by Miller, Griebl and Derrick were part of an early run to put Brown up 11-5 in the fourth. Holding a 16-13 lead, Brown allowed Yale to go on an 8-2 run to take a 21-18 lead. Three kills by Sheire helped the Bears claw back to 23-21. A block by the duo of Vanderlaan and Jenkins was followed by an error to tie the set at 23. A service error by Brown gave Yale match point but the Bulldogs followed with an error of their own.

Back-to-back kills by Vanderlaan gave Brown the set at 26-24 and sent the match to a deciding fifth set.

In the first fifth set for Brown since the last match against Yale, Brown jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and led 6-4 after two kills from Vanderlaan. An error from Yale put Brown up 7-5 but the Bears surrendered a back-breaking run, giving up seven-straight points to go down 12-7. A service error gave Yale set point but the Bears weren't done fighting.

Kills by Sheire and Vanderlaan cut the lead to three. Another kill by Jenkins and a block from Griebl and Vanderlaan pulled the Bears within one but on the next point Yale finished off the match with a kill.

Brown will be on the road for its next two matches, taking on Columbia on Friday (Oct. 29) at 7:00 p.m. and Cornell on Saturday (Oct. 30) at 5:00 p.m.