Eagles Eviscerate W. Volleyball in 3-1 Defeat

The Harvard women's volleyball team entered yesterday's contest versus Boston College hurting.

With three key starters out with injuries, Harvard (5-13, 2-0 Ivy) fell 3-1 to B.C. (9-10, 0-4 Big East) on the Eagles' home court, 15-9, 8-15, 15-11, 15-9.

Sophomore middle hitter Katherine Hart, junior outside hitter Linda Jellison and sophomore outside hitter Angela Lutich all sat out the game and are not expected back for this weekend's matches against Princeton and Pennsylvania.

"Overall, it is kind of a mental challenge having three starters sitting on the bench," co-captain Melissa Forcum said.

The Crimson, which was trying to avenge an early-season loss to the Eagles, could not stop B.C. at the beginning of the first game. The Eagles quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the match.

"They came out on fire in the first game," Forcum said. "They built a pretty sizeable lead on us. We weren't doing a whole lot to play back at them."

In that game, B.C. notched 24 kills at a .512 clip, an astonishing rate when compared to Harvard's 16 kills for a .184 killing percentage.

In the second game, the Crimson turned it around, winning 15-8.

"We played really well in the second game," Forcum said. "We made some big plays."

Unfortunately for the Crimson, B.C. did not become complacent.

"They started playing well again," Forcum said. "They put up a good block the whole game."

The B.C. front court put up a strong enough block to force the Crimson to a .110 hitting percentage on the match.

In the fourth and ultimately final game, the Crimson could not pull back even, losing 15-9.

"It was a great match," sophomore setter Julie Yick said. "There were some really long rallies. I think it could have gone either way."

Forcum, the Ivy League Player of the Week, and freshman middle hitter Erin Denniston led the Crimson offense with 13 kills each. Co-captain Kate Nash had 36 set assists.

On defense, Yick dug 17 balls and senior outside hitter Anne Schafer added 13 digs.

It was Schafer, Forcum said, who stepped in to fill the void left by the three missing players, contributing nine kills and an ace.

"Anne came in and played really well," Forcum said. "She had a good hitting game."

Despite the loss of the starters, Harvard has played well as a team, Yick said.

"We've stressed all season long that we are a team of 14," she said. "Once we do get our starters back, we'll be that much stronger."

Harvard puts its unbeaten Ivy record this weekend at home against Princeton (8-9, 2-1 Ivy) and Pennsylvania (5-8, 0-3 Ivy).

"We don't really need any fire up stuff," Forcum said. "Especially for Princeton. Brown beat them, and that gives us a little bit of confidence. We've seen Brown play already this year."

With that confidence, and the home floor, Harvard hopes to stay atop the Ivy standings and break the tie for the lead with Dartmouth and Brown.