Volleyball Beats Yale in Five-Set Thriller

Saturday, October 25

Providence, R.I.

2 p.m.

Brown University

11-6,6-2Ivy League

Yale

9-7,5-3Ivy League

Yale

Brown

Photo by: Jamie Fiedorek

10/25/2025 6:37:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball (11-6, 6-2 Ivy) won a five-set thriller over Yale (9-7, 5-3 Ivy) to start the second half of the Ivy League schedule on Saturday (Oct. 25), 25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 25-22, 17-15.

The Bears were led on offense by 14 kills from Sophia Wolfson, who also hit .344 on the day. Both Ally Panzloff and Fisayo Afonja finished with 13 kills and Mariia Sidorova added 12. Julia Kakkis finished the match with 42 assists.

On defense, the Bears had four players with double-figure digs. Sidorova led the way with 16 digs, followed by Jessie Golden with 15, Eve McLaury with 14 and Kakkis with 12. At the net Brown finished the match with 12 blocks, led by six from Wolfson, five from Sarah Shaw and four from Sidorova.

The match featured 31 ties and 13 lead changes with both teams fighting back-and-forth and only one set being decided by more than four points.

Brown started set one up 7-3 after a kill and ace by Wolfson. Yale came back to take a 14-13 lead before Brown took control with a 5-0 run that ended with kills by Shaw and Panzloff. Brown earned set point after an ace from Sidorova before Yale scored two points to make it 24-21. A service error by the Bulldogs ended the set.

Yale took set two after taking control of the set with a 6-1 run that made the score 18-12 and Brown could not overcome the deficit.

In the third, Brown held a 17-14 lead after a kill by Panzloff but Yale scored five of the next six points to go up 19-18. Brown used a 3-0 run to tie the set 23-23 before Yale scored the final two points.

Down 10-9 in the fourth, Brown scored five-straight points, capped by a block from Shaw to go up 14-10. Yale came back to take an 18-16 lead but another 5-0 run with kills from Sidorova and Flannery and capped by a block from Sidorova and Wolfson put the Bears up 21-18. Brown was up 23-22 before Panzloff and Hannah Flannery collected kills to force a fifth set.

Brown trailed 6-3 early in the deciding before a kill by Afonja made it 7-6. Yale pulled away with three points to jump ahead 10-6. Down 11-8, Brown scored the next four points to take a 12-11 lead. The first match point came as Yale went up 14-13 but Yuna Yang tied the set with a kill. With the set tied at 15, two errors by the Bulldogs sealed the win for Brown.

GAME NOTES

The win for the Bears broke a 10-match losing streak to the Bulldogs.
Brown had four players record double-figure kills in a match for the first time since doing so against Dartmouth on Nov. 9, 2024.
The Bears had four players reach double-digit digs for the first time since a match at Cornell on Nov. 15, 2024.
Afonja's 13 kill are a career-high for the sophomore.
Both Sidorova and Kakkis finished the game with a double-double. It was the first double-double by a Bear since Sidorova earlier this season at Yale (Sept. 27).

UP NEXT
Brown will continue play at home against Penn on Friday (Oct. 31).

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