The gym was packed with fans Friday night, Oct. 11 to watch Dartmouth volleyball’s second season game against Old Rochester Regional High School. 

Despite triumph in the first two sets, the Bulldogs found their way back in the third and fourth sets, and after a close final set, Dartmouth saw defeat, 3-2.

Head Coach Rachel Lassey said, “I’m just really, really proud of tonight because we lost to them, at their place to open up the season, 3-1, and we knew we could have hung in there a lot better and we proved that tonight.”

The night’s game brings the team’s record to 7-7 — which is a first for her, Lassey said. 

“This season’s been a little rocky,” she said. “We’re definitely going through some growing pains, but I believe in this team so much and we’re really starting to come alive right now.”

With eight seniors having graduated, only three players have returned this season, requiring a lot of rebuilding.

Lassey said with such a new team, knowing who to look to for leadership can be tough, but her two captains, senior Kyla Martin and junior Chloe McKinnon, and sophomore setter, Lindsey Barber, have begun to step up and have their voices heard.

She added they’ve set a good tone for the team and she’s “super impressed with them.”

Martin, an outside hitter, said she’s been playing on the team since she was a freshman and despite the amount of new players this season, she said it feels “more like a family than a team” — even calling themselves the “DVB Fam.”

“It’s just such a good feeling to have, just playing volleyball and just being with all these girls,” she said.

One of the ways the team bonds may have been noticed by the crowd, with the team adding to their traditional cheers and chants they do after they score points. 

“It’s been so fun,” Martin said. One, which was introduced just last practice, has the players jump up and spin around after scoring. Another adds a “Boom!” to the end of the group’s traditional  “Killed It” chant.

“I don’t know where it really came from, we were just like, ‘You know what, if it gets us hype and if it gets the crowd hype, then it works,’” she said.

Reflecting on the team's season so far, Martin said, “We’ve had some rough games, but we’ve never hung our heads. We’ve always fought really hard. We’ve played to our fullest potential at every game.”

And Martin’s words echoed the very same of her coach’s, “We were fighters tonight, and I think that’s such an awesome lesson regardless of the loss — to just keep going.”

Fourteen seasons into coaching Dartmouth volleyball, Lassey said her philosophy is to build “strong and confident women,” who are not only able to physically take on the court, but have the mental and emotional ability and social atmosphere to do it. 

“We really pride ourselves on this being a really close group,” she said.

Lassey highlighted the culture built in the volleyball team that has players coming back to visit — even at the night’s game where a recent graduate came.

“She’s coming back because it means something,” Lassey said. “They take pride in it. It’s not just winning — fantastic, love it — but knowing that we are releasing strong, confident women with a mindset they can do anything is the most important part to me.”

With tears in her eyes, she said, “Building those relationships is the most important to me.”

“My team is filled with girls who underestimate themselves every single day, but for what reason, I have no idea,” Lassey said. “They are beautiful, they’re smart and they’re kind and I need them to know how important they are to me and just that no matter what they set their minds to that they can do anything.”

She said, “I keep saying, ‘It’s only up from here,’ and I truly believe that every day, regardless of the loss, it’s always up for me today.”