Spikers Return to Old Ways

After suffering a disappointing fourset loss to Cornell Friday night at Helen Newman Hall, the Harvard women's volleyball team rebounded to destroy Columbia Saturday afternoon at Barnard Gymnasium in New York.

Harvard (now 11-5 overall, 1-1 Ivy) snapped its mild two game losing streak with a 15-5, 15-8, 9-15, 15-3 triumph over the Lions (6-12, 0-4).

Saturday's match was the second meeting between the Crimson and the Lions this year, with Harvard coming out on top both times. Harvard recorded a five-set victory over Columbia at a tournament held last month.

Suprisingly, the spikers weren't effected by the long ride from Ithaca to New Jersey (where their hotel was located), or by the fact that they were coming off a tough loss the night before.

"We were angry after the Cornell match," freshman Carolyn Burger said. "We were disappointed in our performance. The loss pumped us up. We didn't want to lose two matches on the road."

"Manda [Schossberger] had some scary hits," junior Susie Nemes said. "[Columbia] crumpled up everytime she hit the ball. Lee [Polikoff] and Pascale [Jean-Louis] were also hitting really well. The whole team played well."

In the first set, Harvard quickly jumped out to a 7-3 advantage, with spikes from senior Jean-Louis, and sophomores Polikoff and Schossberger.

Harvard used a tenacious defense and fine net play to capture eight of the next ten points.

"We played really well," Burger said. "Our serves were much better against Columbia. We were able to place [the ball] in different parts of the court."

The spikers' momentum carried over to the second set, as the the Crimson cruised to a 15-8 victory.

After barely breaking a sweat during the first two games, the Crimson suffered a let-down, as the Lions fought off a late Crimson rally to win the third set.

As it turned out, that comeback merely delayed the inevitable, as the fired-up Crimson crushed the Lions, capturing an easy 15-3 triumph in the fourth set.

"We controlled the match from the start," Schossberger said. "We had a slight let-down in the third set. But overall our defensive coverage was pretty good and our service-game was much better in the Columbia match."

Cassell agreed with her teammate. "Our service-game was so much better," she said. "We were covering their blocks and hits really well. We were playing a lot more like a team."

The Crimson will travel to New Haven tomorrow to take on Yale.