W. Volleyball Splits Ivy Weekend

The Harvard women’s volleyball team channeled its frustration from a Friday night loss to Cornell into an all-out spanking of a much weaker Columbia squad.

The Crimson (7-13, 6-4 Ivy) blew out the Lions on Saturday afternoon at the Malkin Athletic Center by a 3-0 margin (30-26, 30-14, 30-15).

The thumping of Columbia came on the heels of a Cornell (17-3, 7-3) match in which Harvard seemed out-of-sync and a step behind the Big Red. The result was a sound 3-0 defeat (16-30, 28-30, 24-30).

“Our team did not show up Friday night,” said co-captain and middle hitter Mariah Pospisil.

Harvard 3, Columbia 0

Harvard was looking to avenge Friday night’s loss to Cornell, and the Crimson executed its mission throughout the entire match.

“We knew Columbia wasn’t as strong as Cornell, so we wanted to play at our level,” said junior setter Kim Gould. “We wanted to focus on our side of the court and do what was in our control well.”

The second game was the most telling demonstration of the Crimson’s intent, as Harvard jumped out to a 13-2 lead behind an 11-point serving run that included two aces by freshman middle hitter Katie Turley-Molony.

“I was trying to keep them off-balance,” said Turley-Molony, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week.

The strategy worked, as undermanned Columbia (0-18, 0-8), which has only seven players on its entire squad, looked disconcerted and bewildered. It could not catch up as the Crimson built a 15-point lead at 27-12, cruising to victory with its biggest lead of the night, 30-14.

Turley-Molony was a major offensive threat for Harvard, hitting an astounding .667 with 10 kills.

The Lions came out flat in the first game, letting the Crimson build an 11-5 lead. Harvard, which averages 1.64 blocks a game, blocked Columbia twice within the first eight points. That left the Lions tentative, as they reverted to tipping instead of swinging attacks.

However, Columbia was not yet down for the count, as it rallied behind the hitting and blocking of senior Cassie Bryan to draw the score even at 15.

That’s when junior outside hitter Nilly Schweitzer went to work for the Crimson. After the tie at 15-15, Schweitzer slammed six of her seven kills of the game to help Harvard pull away to 25-22.

The Lions took a timeout, but that only seemed to give the Crimson more momentum as Harvard won the next two points, instigating another Columbia timeout. The Lions continued to battle, but senior outside hitter Amy Dildine slammed the door on Columbia with a kill from the right side to end the game.

In the third game, freshman Sarah Cebron, who has been used primarily for her defense, got the nod to start at her main position as setter. She spread the ball well, with six players recording kills in the game.

“We’re really proud of her,” Pospisil said. “She works really hard—probably one of the hardest workers on the team.”

Schweitzer got the game started for the Crimson with a five-point serving run, including one ace. Any remaining Lion ferocity disappeared as Harvard’s lead grew.

The Crimson engineered a commanding 20-8 lead, making the rest of the game seem like a mere formality. The entire match lasted less than 75 minutes.

“We were looking to prove that we were one of the top teams in the Ivy League,” Turley-Molony said. “We wanted to play at the team instead of with the team, and I think we were successful at that.”

Cornell 3, Harvard 0

Two emphatic kills by Big Red outside hitter Elizabeth Bishop and middle blocker Jamie Lugo ended the third of three frustrating games for the Crimson.

“It was pretty disappointing,” Gould said. “We really felt that we could have come out stronger.”

Harvard and Cornell battled to a standstill for the first 15 points of the third game. After three blocks by Big Red middle blocker Heather Young and Lugo, Cornell took control and coasted to a 30-24 victory.

Harvard fell behind early in the second game 12-8. The Crimson recovered immediately, grabbing eight of the next 10 points to take a 16-14 lead. Pospisil led the charge with two finesse kills that exploited open holes deep in the Cornell defense.

Harvard held a 21-19 lead, but the Big Red grabbed the next six points and a comfortable four-point margin. The Crimson rallied furiously but dropped the game 30-28.

Sophomore Liz Blotky entered the rotation at the Libero position in the second game. Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss switched her defensive specialists in each game, starting with senior Nathalie Miller in the first, Blotky in the second and co-captain Allison Bendush in the third.

“I was a little disappointed in how I played, but it was nice to fill a role and do my part,” Blotky said.

Harvard never could find its rhythm in game one. The Crimson fell behind 14-8 and never could recover, dropping the first frame 30-16.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.