W. Volleyball Looks for Ivy League Treats

Forget about the candied apples and chocolate bars. The only Halloween treat that the Harvard women's volleyball team wants this weekend is the Ivy League crown.

In its most critical homestand of the season, the Crimson (12-10, 4-1 Ivy) will face off against two of its most dangerous Ivy opponents, facing Yale (14-7, 3-2 Ivy) Friday night and Brown (11-10, 4-1 Ivy) Saturday afternoon.

"We definitely expect to win as long as we come to play," said freshman setter Mindy Jellin. "We've really been prepared well [for this weekend], and we know that in order to win, we just need to keep our composure and play hard."

Last weekend's dominating 3-0 victory over Dartmouth allowed Harvard to grab a share of the lead in the Ivy League race. The Crimson is currently embroiled in a heated three-way tie with Princeton and Brown, and two additional league victories this weekend would aid the Crimson's bid to bring home the Ivy crown.

Harvard veered off its winning course last Tuesday when it suffered from mental lapses and lost to non-conference Providence. A lackluster Crimson dropped all three games to the streaking Friars, 15-12, 15-8, 15-3.

In each game against Providence, the Crimson fell behind early and was unable to summon enough energy to stage a successful comeback, a frightening trend that has defined Harvard's season.

Falling behind early in games has put the Crimson in the difficult and unenviable position of playing catch up for the remainder of the match.

"What we want to do is to start hard in each game this weekend so that we don't have to keep playing catch up," Jellin said.

Yale poses a difficult challenge for the Crimson this evening. The Bulldogs lost to red-hot Fairfield, 3-1 (15-10, 15-12, 12-15, 15-9) Wednesday night, giving the Stags their 12th straight win.

Led by a talented and experienced junior class, Yale has attempted to fill the shoes of two-time Ivy League Player of the Year, Rosie Wustrack, who graduated last year. Junior middle blocker Colette FitzGerald leads the Bulldogs with 3.66 kills per game, and sophomore outside hitter Candace Green has averaged 3.08 kills per game this season.

"Our strategy against Yale is to serve well and play good defense because that's the way that we've been able to get most of our wins this year," Jellin said.

The talent-laden Brown poses a similar challenge to the Crimson tomorrow afternoon. Corre Myer, last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, turned in another outstanding performance against Stony Brook racking up 21 digs and 47 assists.

The multifaceted Myer earned Ivy Player of the Week honors for her performance.

Brown's other offensive weapon, Tomo Nakanishi, has also been unstoppable this season. Last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, Nakashini chalked up 22 kills against Yale last Friday to help the Bulldogs nab a share of the Ivy League crown.

Unlike the Crimson, the Bears have mastered the art of launching successful comebacks. Against Stony Brook last Saturday, the Bears fought back after falling behind early in each game and ended up defeating Stony Brook in three straight games.

Harvard, however, is prepared to squelch the Bears' championship hopes this weekend. Led by sophomore Erin Denniston, who has gained Ivy League Player of the Week honors twice this season, sophomores Katherine Hart and Angela Lutich, and co-captain Linda Jellison, the Crimson is ready to right the wrongs of last year's injury-plagued season.

The Crimson hopes an Ivy League crown will be in its Halloween bag after the weekend. But Yale and Brown will try and force an early end to Harvard's trick-or-treating.