W. Volleyball Fails Non-Ivy Test, Falls 3-0 to Providence

Even though the Harvard women's volleyball team may be tied for first place in the Ivy League, the Providence Friars left the red-hot Crimson ice-cold last night in Providence, R.I.

After grabbing a share of the Ivy League lead last weekend, the Crimson (12-10, 4-1 Ivy) dropped three consecutive games to the Friars, 15-12, 15-8, 15-3. In the middle of a week overflowing with midterms and papers, the Crimson was unable to concentrate on a non-league match.

By beating Harvard last night, the Friars (12-9) extended its six-match win streak and recorded its 10th win in 12 matches.

"I don't want to take anything away from Providence because they played really well," said junior outside hitter Angela Lutich. "But it's always difficult to play during the middle of the week because we have so much on our minds."

Lutich led the Crimson with 12 kills, and junior middle hitter Katherine Hart tacked on nine digs and three blocks.

For the Friars, sophomore Annie Cella chalked up 22 kills, and sophomore Sarah Katinger added 17 kills to the Providence attack.

"We just didn't show up mentally for the match," Hart said. "It's been a tough week academically for a lot of us, and we just had a hard team focusing on the game."

The Crimson started with the match with a burst of energy that soon faded. Providence surged to a 6-1 lead early in the first game, but Harvard was able to exchange side-outs with the Friars and finally battled back to 11-9, again siding out through several rotations.

At one critical point in the first game, Providence led by the slim margin of 13-12, but it finally closed out the game, 15-13.

"We did a good job of siding out with them and keeping up with them, but it's hard to keep playing catch up when you fall behind early in the game," Hart said.

Falling behind early in the second and third games, Harvard was unable to stage dramatic comebacks, losing both, 15-8 and 15-3.

"Even towards the end, when we were really behind in the game, we were trying to turn things around," Hart said.

However, the Crimson's dying efforts were not enough to stifle the explosive Friars, whose multifaceted offense consistently found holes in Harvard's defense. The Friars' senior setter Colleen Lee assisted on 48 points on the night.

"Providence was definitely a good team, but we should have been able to win the match," Hart said. "We should have taken advantage of the situation, but we just weren't focused. We were basically playing catch up for the entire match."

Now Harvard must recuperate from its difficult loss last night in time for its upcoming Ivy matches to maintain its place atop the Ivy League standings. Last weekend the Crimson surged into a tie for first-place with Princeton and Brown.

This weekend the Crimson returns to the Malkin Athletic Center for crucial Ivy League homestand against second-place Yale (14-6, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday night and Brown (11-10, 4-1 Ivy) on Saturday afternoon.

At stake for the Crimson this weekend will be sole possession of the Ivy League lead as it begins its last few weeks of the season.

"We can definitely bounce back from this loss [against Providence] and get ready for this weekend," Hart said. "There was definitely a lesson to be learned tonight about focus. But come Friday, we'll be ready to win."

Once midterms are over and papers are turned in, the Crimson will finally be able to focus on the race for the Ivy League crown.