Women Spikers Fall at Ivy Tourney

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing year.

The Harvard women's volleyball team went into this weekend's Ivy League championships without any illusions of a serious shot at the title.

The team's expectations were borne out.

The Crimson managed just two victories in seven matches at the round-robin tournament at Ithaca, N.Y., to finish in sixth place in the league and 11-15 on the year.

While not exactly the Columbia football team, the spikers had their second undistinguished year in a row. This year's final record compares with last year's 12-16 mark.

Last year's squad also finished 2-5 at the lvies.

This weekend, the team suffered from the same ailment that has plagued it all year: inability to play as a unit.

Not Much

As a result, the team managed victories only against perennial Ivy cellar-dwellers Columbia and Dartmouth.

The Crimson-Lions contest way the teams' fifth of the weekend, coming for the Cantabs after straight-game losses to Brown, Cornell, Princeton and Yale.

A combination of a poor Columbia team (it didn't win a game all weekend) and competent Harvard play led to a 2--15, 15--11, 15--10, 15--7 victory for the Crimson spikers.

The team continued its brief winning streak by blitzing its next opponent, Dartmouth, 15--10, 15--5, 16--14.

Harvard closed out the tournament with a defeat at the hands of the eventual runner-up, the University of Pennsylvannia.

The Crimson did poorly, as expected, against tourney favorites Penn and Princeton. The team managed only seven points in three games against the Tigers and 17 in three against the Quakers.

Penn and Princeton met Sunday afternoon in the tournament's championship match, with the Tigers emerging victorious, 15--6, 15-8, 15--9.

The post-tourney announcement of the Ivy League first and second team all-stars and honorable mentions made painfully evident another problem that has plagued the spikers, the lack of an all-around outstanding player.

No All Stars

No Harvard player appeared on any of these teams.

For Coach Ishan Gurdal and team, it will be a long off-season.

But with the sport just ending its second year as a Harvard varsity squad and only three seniors on the team, next year should bring a much improved unit.