W. Volleyball Race Crowded at the Top

With just one weekend of league contests remaining in the season, the Ivy League women's volleyball race is coming down to the wire, with five teams vying for a share of first place.

Dartmouth and Harvard begin the week in a dead heat at the top of the standings.

The Big Green (16-6, 4-1 Ivy) is the league's hottest squad, having reeled off nine consecutive victories, including a pair of 3-0 triumphs over Central Connecticut and Holy Cross last week.

Paving the way for Dartmouth has been the steady play of freshman Paige Perry, who averaged 2.17 kills and 3.33 digs in last week's victories, including 10 kills and 13 digs in the win over Central Connecticut.

The Big Green faces a tough test this weekend, however, with road games at Brown and Yale on Saturday and Sunday.

Although Harvard (10-11, 4-1) finds itself perched atop the league standings, its play of late has been inconsistent.

While the Crimson dealt the Big Green its only league setback on October 4, Friday's 3-2 setback at Manhattan left it with five losses in its last six contests, one of which came at the hands of league foe Penn.

On Saturday Harvard showed signs of life, however, with a pair of encouraging 3-0 wins over Lehigh (15-4, 15-11, 15-6) and Long Island (15-9, 15-11, 15-12) at the Manhattan Tournament.

Junior Lolita Lopez earned a spot on the Ivy League Honor Roll for the week, averaging 2.31 kills and 1.92 digs. She also recorded a career-high seven service aces in a 3-1 loss to Rutgers last Thursday.

Like Dartmouth, Harvard will spend this weekend at Yale and Brown, with games on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Yale, Princeton and Brown are each one game behind the league leaders heading into the weekend.

The Elis (15-7, 3-2) are coming off an encouraging 3-0 week that saw victories over Fairfield, Hartford and Brown.

Sophomore Rosie Wustrack dominated the matches for Yale in garnering Ivy League Player of the Week Honors for the third time this year.

She averaged 3.67 kills, 3.25 digs and 1.17 blocks while hitting at a .470 clip in the three contests, including an 18-kill, 15-dig, five block performance in the Brown victory.

Princeton (7-9, 3-2) will need some help if it is to vault to the top of the league standings.

The Tigers, coming off a 1-1 week that included a 3-1 victory over Penn, host league cellar-dwellers Columbia (6-10, 0-5) and Cornell (7-14, 1-4) on Friday and Saturday.

Sophomore Rose Kuhn came up big in the win over the Quakers, recording 16 kills, 12 digs and three blocks to earn a spot on the league Honor Roll.

Last week's close loss to Yale puts Brown (9-10, 3-2) in a must-win situation in its games against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend.

The lone bright spot for the Bears in the loss to the Elis was the sparkling play of freshman Tomo Nakanishi, who recorded 26 kills and 28 digs.

While Penn (13-8, 2-3) went 3-0 in winning last weekend's Marist Invitational, a 3-1 setback to the Tigers last Wednesday hurt its league ranking.

Leading the Quakers was junior Heather Tillet, who earned a place on the league's honor roll by averaging 8.77 assists and 0.46 service aces per game.

Penn wraps up its league schedule with a pair of home contests against Cornell and Columbia on Friday and Saturday.

After this weekend's full slate of matches, the teams will not meet again until the Ivy League Tournament at Cornell from November 15-17. The seeding for the tournament is based on regular-season finish, adding to the importance of this weekend's action. IVY STANDINGS   IVY  OVERALL Team  W  L  Pct  W  L  Pct Dartmouth  4  1  .800  16  6  .727 Harvard  4  1  .800  10  11  .476 Yale  3  2  .600  15  7  .682 Princeton  3  2  .600  7  9  .438 Brown  3  2  .600  9  7  .563 Penn  2  3  .400  13  8  .619 Cornell  1  4  .200  7  14  .333 Columbia  0  5  .000  6  10  .375