W. Volleyball Splits Ivy Pair

The Harvard women’s volleyball team split a pair of league match-ups on the road this weekend, beating Yale 3-2 on Friday before falling to Brown 3-2 on Saturday.

The Crimson (8-5, 2-2 Ivy) was led by outside hitter and captain Erin Denniston, who posted double-doubles in both matches, registering a combined 36 kills and 28 digs in the two-game set.

The only other Crimson player to post double-doubles is both contests was freshman outside hitter Kaego Ogbechie. Ogbechie led the Crimson with 25 kills against Yale and tallied a combined 29 digs on the weekend.

Harvard is now deep into its conference schedule and will continue its stretch of league games on the road when it visits Columbia and Cornell this weekend.

“We need to focus on team chemistry [in the upcoming Ivy games],” Denniston said. “We still haven’t been able to show anyone the team we can be.”

Brown 3, Harvard 2

In a close, five-game match, the Crimson came up just short against Brown at the Pizzitola Center on Saturday.

With the score tied 2-2, Brown (9-7, 4-0) surged to a 15-11 victory in the tiebreaker behind the stellar play of junior Jesse Cooper. The 6’2 middle blocker took advantage of her height to post a match and career high 29 kills.

The Bears jumped out to an early lead with a 30-27 victory in the first game, but the Crimson answered right back to take the second game 30-24.

Brown seized the momentum in the third game, cruising to a 30-12 victory while holding Harvard to its worst single-game kill average of the season at -.286. A negative kill average indicates that the Crimson made more kill errors than actual kills in the game. The Crimson regrouped to battle to a 30-28 victory in the fourth game before dropping the tiebreaker.

“We went five games with Brown,” Ogbechie said, “but we need to remember that it’s all about the finish.”

Denniston and Ogbechie posted 16 and 13 kills, respectively, to lead the offensive attack, and both players posted four blocks on defense.

Junior setter Mindy Jellin, last week’s Ivy Player of the Week for her 61 kills in the Crimson’s win over Dartmouth, registered 31 assists and 16 digs.

Harvard 3, Yale 2

The Crimson took an early 2-0 lead and held on to defeat Yale 3-2 at the John J. Lee Amphitheatre on Friday. The Bulldogs (6-6, 0-3) rebounded from the early deficit to squeak out victories in games three and four, but could not rally past Harvard for the win.

With the score tied at 2-2, the Crimson defense bore down, holding Yale to a .097 kill percentage in the match’s final game. The 15-13 win in the tiebreaker have Harvard its second consecutive Ivy win.

“It was one of those games where we proved ourselves at the end,” Denniston said.

Jellin posted a season-high 74 assists to direct the Crimson to victory and give Harvard’s big hitters a chance to shine.

Three Harvard players posted twenty or more kills in the match. Ogbechie led all players with 25 kills to go with 14 digs.

“I am pleased with the way I am playing,” Ogbechie said, “but I wouldn’t be able to get the kills without a good pass. You can’t do anything on your own in volleyball.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Meunier added a season-high 22 kills to go with a match-high 23 digs, and Denniston contributed 20 kills.

Each game was a struggle, with the largest margin of victory being just three points. Harvard claimed the first two games with scores of 30-28 and 35-33, and Yale took the third and fourth games with equally tight scores, 31-29 and 30-27.