A record-setting season came to an end tonight as the Yale women’s volleyball team fell to No. 11 Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
It was a valiant effort by the Bulldogs, who lost in three sets with scores of 25–12, 25–17 and 25–19. The Elis drew within four on multiple occasions during the second set and held the lead towards the beginning of the third, twice by a three-point margin. Yale hit a season-low 0.076 on the night, compared to Arizona’s 0.311, while captain and Ivy League Player of the Year Mollie Rogers ‘15 led the team with 10 kills.
The matchup took place at the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona and represents the sixth time the Elis have made an appearance in the NCAA tournament after gaining an automatic berth as champions of the Ivy League. Tonight is the first time in history the two teams have played one another. Yale faced another Pac-12 opponent earlier this year, when the Elis lost to UCLA at the Fullerton Classic in September.
The game was the final for a decorated class of seniors. Rogers is only the sixth Bulldog to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs over the course of her career and libero Maddie Rudnick ’15 is second on the all-time Yale digs list with 1,753.
The Bulldogs end the season with an overall record of 18–8.