Rachel Mak, Photography Editor

The women’s volleyball team concluded its games this weekend with a 1–1 record. The Bulldogs (6–5, 2–1 Ivy) swept Penn (6–7, 0–3 Ivy) on Friday before losing to Princeton (7–4, 2–1 Ivy) on Saturday.

Yale breezed by in the first set against Penn, winning 25-12. They held the Quakers to a -0.03 hitting percentage with only six kills on 33 attempts. In the next two sets, Penn put up a stronger fight, but Yale still took both 25-19.

Throughout the game, the Bulldogs out-scored, out-dug, out-blocked and out-served the Quakers. Yale was led offensively by Betsy Goodenow ’27, who had 15 kills and nine digs alongside three blocks. Defensively, libero Arya Jue ’27 led the Bulldogs with 19 digs.

“We just had spectacular defense against Penn,” Jue wrote to the News. 

Ava Poinsett ’29 put up another double-double after being named Ivy League Rookie of the Week, picking up 13 kills — with only one error — and 11 digs. She also led the Bulldogs with three service aces. Team captain Halle Sherlock ’26 also had a double-double with a career-high 37 assists and 14 digs.

“Our serve and pass game allowed us to limit Penn’s offense,” Poinsett wrote to the News. “When we serve tough, we can disrupt their rhythm and make it harder for them to run their offense effectively. At the same time, when we pass well, our setters have more options and we can run our offense effectively.”

On Saturday, the Bulldogs met up with a familiar opponent in Princeton in a rematch of last year’s Ivy League volleyball tournament championship. This time, Yale lost in four sets, with scores of 21-25, 25-15, 21-25 and 18-25.

In the first set, Yale was held to a 0.086 hitting percentage, compared to Princeton’s 0.250. However, the Elis worked to close the gap and swing the momentum. In the second set, the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run early on and did not look back, hitting 0.419 and holding the Tigers to a 0.147.

Princeton clawed back in the third set, starting with a 6-0 scoring run. Undeterred, Yale responded with a 5-0 run of their own. The two teams traded runs and points throughout the set until the Tigers reached 20 points first, where they continued to build on their lead to take the set.

The Tigers then went on multiple runs in the fourth set, and despite a resilient effort, Yale was unable to close the gap.

“I honestly just don’t think we played very well,” head coach Erin Appleman said of the Princeton game.

Although the Tigers led the Bulldogs in every statistical category except aces and digs, Jue and her teammates know that a couple of adjustments can make a big difference in future matchups.

“We’ll look to work on getting more blocks or closing the seams so that the opponents’ offense can falter,” she said.

With the loss, Yale joins three other Ivy League teams that have a 2–1 record during conference play. They include Princeton, which lost to Brown (7–5, 2–1 Ivy) 0-3 on Friday before taking on the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs will next travel to Columbia (2–11, 0–3 Ivy) and Cornell (8–5, 3–0 Ivy) for games next weekend.