Ogbechie Returns For W. Volleyball

It seemed to be a routine kill that knotted the score at four in the first game. For junior outside hitter Kaego Ogbechie it was anything but.

Ogbechie—sidelined for the first seven games of the year—announced her arrival in grand fashion, registering three kills in a span of four points in the first game of the Harvard women’s volleyball team’s match against Dartmouth on Friday night.

“It just felt good to be back playing on the court and in the huddle with the team after every play,” said Ogbechie. “But I still feel that I have a long way to go to get back to the level where I want to be.”

Ogbechie’s return was the spark that the Crimson needed to start Ivy League play off on a positive note.

However, Harvard would not be able to carry its good fortune over to Saturday, dropping matches to Long Island 3-0 and Northeastern 3-2. Ogbechie did not see action in either match as she was resting her injured knee.

Harvard 3, Dartmouth 1

The clean slate that the Ivy opener provided was exactly what Harvard needed.

The Crimson closed out a tight fourth game in grand fashion taking 14 of the final 20 points to take the match 3-1 (30-24, 27-30, 30-24, 30-22). “You can see the smiles on everyone’s faces,” Ogbechie said. “We just said that we needed a win and that’s it.”

Harvard had forged five-point leads on two separate occasions early in the fourth frame, but the Big Green (5-4, 0-1 Ivy) was able to claw back and knot the game at 16.

But an 8-0 Crimson run aided by Ogbechie’s two kills and a block put the game out of reach.

In her highly anticipated return to the lineup, Ogbechie registered 15 kills, second only to senior outside hitter Nathalie Miller’s match-high 16.

“I felt like I was back to my old self again,” Ogbechie said. “I had some good plays and bad plays but I was happy with my performance.”

Early in game three, with the match tied at a game a piece and the score 11-10, Harvard made the move it needed to make.

And Dartmouth decided to help.

After a kill by co-captain middle blocker Mariah Pospisil, a Big Green player slipped, then missed a kill attempt, and executed a double hit on consecutive points. The sequence helped the Crimson take eight out of 10 points and post a commanding 19-12 lead it would never relinquish.

After we lost game two, we said in the huddle that we needed an answer,” Ogbechie said. “We made some mistakes, hit the ball out, hit the ball into the net, we were doing things wrong that we knew how to do. In the third game we just had an answer for that.”

It was a commanding response to a second-game collapse that had shifted the momentum in Dartmouth’s favor. After a Miller kill gave Harvard a 27-25 lead, the Big Green took the last five points of the game, including two blocks to slam the door shut.

Long Island 3, Harvard 0

Unable to carry the momentum from Friday night’s victory over Dartmouth, the Crimson dropped its match to Long Island in three games on Saturday (23-30, 27-30, 28-30).

After losing the first two games, Harvard was poised to win the third, breaking away from a 9-9 tie by winning 15 of the next 21 points. Junior outside hitter Nilly Schweitzer came alive during the run with four kills.

Unfortunately, volleyball is a game of momentum and, after taking a timeout at 24-15, the Blackbirds won 12 of the next 15 points, evening the score at 27.

A net violation by Long Island gave the Crimson a one-point edge, but the advantage was short-lived.

Middle blocker Mika Belbaor went to work against Harvard with a kill and an ace to retake the lead.

The Crimson’s last timeout only delayed the inevitable, as the Blackbirds won the next point with a kill by junior middle blocker Cristina Pintilie, taking the game 30-28.

Pintilie led Long Island, as she has all season, with 20 kills and a .487 hitting percentage in the match.

“They set her the majority of the time,” said co-captain outside hitter Allison Bendush. “They were much more of a defensive team with one big hitter.”

At the beginning of the match, it didn’t look like the Blackbirds were going to make Harvard’s life so miserable. In the first game, the Crimson hung with Long Island, even maintaining a small lead.

After a 17-17 tie, however, the Blackbirds’ tough defense took over, and Harvard could not keep up. The Crimson only won six more points that game, two of which came from missed serves by Long Island.

Eager to avenge the first game, Harvard opened the second game with purpose, holding onto a small lead at 21-19.

After the Crimson failed to break away, the Blackbirds went on a four-point run behind the serving of Pintilie, edging out Harvard 23-21.

Pospisil kept the Crimson in the game with two critical kills, but Long Island was not going to be denied.

After taking the lead, the Blackbirds never looked back, leaving a stunned Harvard behind, 27-30.

“We were all disappointed with that match,” Bendush said. “That’s one that we could have had control over, and we let slip away.”

Northeastern 3, Harvard 2

Down two games to none and facing a Northeastern crowd that had seized the MAC in a hostile takeover, the Crimson stood undaunted.

“The crowd definitely added to the game,” Schweitzer said. “Loud fans, even if they’re for the other team, are great for the game.”

Harvard fought back and pushed the match to five games before falling 3-2 (25-30, 27-30, 30-24, 30-28, 12-15).

“We played the way we’ve been wanting to all season against Northeastern,” Bendush said, “So hopefully that will carry over the rest of the season.”

The Crimson and Huskies went back-and-forth in the fifth game until a crucial block by Northeastern outside hitters Rebecca Holland and Shannon Brooker gave the Huskies a comfortable 14-11 advantage.

“To come out here and play with them like we did was a completely different story than in previous years,” said Schweitzer.

Schweitzer came alive in the fourth game, pushing the team along during two separate sequences. Schweitzer contributed two kills, freshman outside hitter Katie Turley-Molony had two and the duo blocked three Northeastern kill attempts to record seven points in an eight-point span, giving the Crimson a 17-14 lead. After the Huskies stormed back to take a 25-23 lead, Schweitzer registered three straight kills, swinging the momentum back to Harvard and helping it take the game.

Personal bests fell in bunches for Harvard on Saturday night. Schweitzer, Pospisil and Turley-Molony all set career-highs in kills with 23, 18 and 15, respectively. Junior setter Kim Gould established a new individual mark with 69 assists. Bendush followed suit with 28 digs.

“We have some really athletic girls and when we play together, it’s hard to stop us,” Schweitzer said.

The Crimson pulled away down the stretch in game three, breaking open a 25-23 contest and coasting to a 30-24 victory.

It was a strong response to a second game that Harvard let slip through its fingers. Leading 17-10, the Crimson committed a series of miscues that allowed Northeastern to close the gap to two at 21-19. The Huskies weren’t done, taking advantage of two errant Harvard kills and a carrying violation to forge a 25-23 lead. The Crimson fought back to tie the game at 27, but Northeastern got a big block and a kill to steal the game.

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