W. Volleyball Splits at Stony Brook

The Harvard women's volleyball team finally rediscovered its fountain of youth this weekend, but that well of energy unfortunately ran dry too soon.

At the SUNY- Stony Brook Sea Wolves Invitational Saturday afternoon, the Crimson (6-8) garnered a second-place finish in a field of three teams. After defeating Wagner (4-8) in four games, 15-11, 6-15, 15-6, 15-4, Harvard fell later that afternoon to champion Stony Brook, 15-8, 11-15, 11-15, 17-19.

"We're pretty disappointed with our finish," said sophomore outside hitter Erin Denniston. "There were teams that we really could have beaten at the tournament, but we just couldn't pull it together in time. We could have played much better than we did."

Two Crimson players gained recognition for their stellar play at the tournament. Denniston, who chalked up 17 kills and 10 digs in the Crimson's match against Wagner, and senior outside hitter Kristin Schaeffer both earned All-Tournament honors for their efforts.

In the Crimson's match against Wagner, Harvard's offense exploded from the start, a welcome change from the Crimson's usual pattern of slowly easing into the match and waiting to gain momentum. Even though the Crimson lost the second match 6-15, it soon rebounded to win the final two games.

In addition to Denniston's superb performance against Wagner, junior middle hitter Katherine Hart added 18 kills and 6 digs. Junior outside hitter Angela Lutich racked up 15 digs, and Schaeffer tacked on 12 digs during the match.

Its victory against Wagner reversed the Crimson's recent losing trend. Prior to the Wagner win, Harvard had accumulated a 1-4 record in its last five matches and had lost all four of those matches in three straight games.

However, Harvard's well of energy soon ran dry in its match against host Stony Brook (10-6). The Crimson again started the match with a surge of momentum by winning the first game, 15-8.

The Sea Wolves soon bounced back to win the next two games, 15-11 and 15-11. In the fourth and final game of the match, the Crimson jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead, but Harvard's battery soon ran low. USB suddenly surged ahead to gain a 13-11 lead, and the Sea Wolves eventually won the game, 19-17.

Outside hitter Almaris Miranda led the Sea Wolves with 31 kills and 14 digs, and outside hitter Jessica Serrano also added a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs.

Several Harvard players performed brilliantly during the Crimson's loss. The multi-faceted Lutich sparkled both offensively and defensively, with 17 kills and 19 digs during the match. Denniston equaled her Wagner kills total of 17.

The Crimson's freshmen made key contributions in Harvard's loss against Stony Brook. Freshman setter Mindy Jellin, who has comfortably eased into the role of the team's quarterback after the graduation of long-time Crimson star Kate Nash '99, compiled 47 assists and six digs for the match. Jellin's height has allowed her to become a key defensive asset for the Crimson in addition to being the core of Harvard's offense.

The Crimson will travel to Holy Cross Tuesday afternoon before finally beginning Ivy League play this weekend in two critical matches. Harvard will play Cornell on Friday afternoon and then Columbia on Saturday night.

"We're looking forward to starting league play," Denniston said. "Last season was very frustrating for us because we had a lot of problems with injuries, but we're excited about this weekend."

Although the Crimson ended up with only a second-place finish this weekend, it has made progress in its attempt to reverse the losing trend of the past two weeks.

Now that the Crimson's Ivy League schedule is about to start, change has come at the perfect time.