Volleyball Set For Friday Showdown Against Yale

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball begins the second half of Ivy League play on Friday as the Bears will play host to Yale. The match against the Bulldogs will begin at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.

SCOUTING BROWN

The Bears are riding a five-game win streak heading into the second half of the Ivy League season. Brown will now look to snap a five-match losing streak to Yale on Friday night. The Bears last beat the Bulldogs in 2021 with a 3-2 win in New Haven. Brown has not won in Providence since a four-set victory on Oct. 23, 2015.
The last two meetings between the Bears and the Bulldogs in Providence were five-set affairs. Back in 2022, Brown took the first two sets before dropping the next three. In the 2021 meeting, Brown fell behind 0-2 before forcing a fifth set that the Bears lost 15-13.
In the first meeting this season, Brown jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning the second set 25-16. The Bears dropped the next two sets by equal scores of 25-23 and lost the fifth 18-16.
Beau Vanderlaan has been on fire for Brown's offense in the last four matches for the Bears. Vanderlaan has 39 kills and just three attack errors over the last four contests and Vanderlaan has hit .471 or higher in three of those four matches. Vanderlaan now leads the Ivy League and is fourth in the NCAA in hitting percentage at .450.
This will be a battle between two of the best teams in the Ivy League as both teams are in the top three in six of seven statistical categories after the first half of league play. Brown leads the Ivy League in opposing hitting percentage (.171), and is second in hitting percentage (.257), kills per set (13.27). The Bears sit third in the league in assists per set (11.88), blocks per set (2.23), service aces per set (2.08) and digs per set (14.12). Yale leads the Ivy League in hitting percentage, assists, kills per set, aces per set and digs per set.
Cierra Jenkins has started to take over offensively for the Bears. Jenkins has had at least five kills in all but one Ivy League contest this season. She has committed just one attack error and has hit over .400 in every Ivy League match and has hit over .500 in each of her last five matches. Jenkins has also been distributing the ball well with at least 25 assists in every match during league play. Jenkins ability to set the ball all over the court has led the Brown having five players averaging at least 2.00 kills per set.
Jessie Golden continues to be the anchor of Brown's defense as the sophomore is sixth in the NCAA with 5.53 digs per set this season. Golden continues to lead the Ivy League by more than 1.00 dig per set. Despite playing just six sets last weekend, Golden collected 30 digs to lead Brown in both matches.
After setting the record for most wins by a first-year head coach in Brown program history (13) with the win over Dartmouth, head coach Taylor Virtue now also owns the most Ivy wins (5) by a first year head coach in Brown program history with the victory over Harvard.

SCOUTING YALE

Yale is 12-3 on the season and 7-0 in Ivy League play. The Bulldogs have won eight-straight games with the last loss being an 0-3 defeat at Northwestern.
During league play, Aubrey Leak has been a force, leading the league with 4.09 kills per set and sitting fourth in hitting percentage at .373. Mila Yarich is second on the team and third in league play with 3.28 kills per set.

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