Women's Volleyball Falters Across River Versus Huskies

BOSTON—After going down to the wire with Boston College in its season opener, the Harvard women’s volleyball team gave another cross-town rival a run for its money before falling short.

The Crimson came within a few points of tying the match at two games apiece but succumbed 3-1 (30-21, 26-30, 30-17, 30-28) to Northeastern last night at the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Center.

Junior middle hitter Katie Turley-Molony had her best match of the young season, notching 11 kills and 8 digs.

“As one of the few upperclassmen, Katie has really stepped up this year as a leader,” co-captain Elizabeth Blotky said. “She’s really showing the younger players how to work hard.”

At times, Harvard’s defense looked impenetrable. In addition to posting 10 team blocks, four Crimson players registered double digits in digs, with outside hitters Laura Mahon and Kathryn McKinley leading the way with 16 each.

But service errors hurt Harvard at many crucial points in the contest, killing momentum just when the Crimson needed it most.

“Serving is one of the easiest things in the game of volleyball,” Blotky said. “All you have to do is get the ball in a 30 by 30 square. It all comes down to mental stability, and that’s something we definitely talked about after the match.”

The fourth frame was a game of swings, with each squad making mini-runs of four or five points before letting the other team tie the score.

After the Huskies reeled off two kills and two service aces to take a 20-18 lead, Harvard kept the margin small but couldn’t find a way to regain the lead.

Northeastern finally moved ahead 29-26, one point from victory.

The Crimson, though, fought off two match points on kills by Turley-Molony and Mahon.

Trailing 29-28, Harvard served and then successfully defended the Huskies’ attack, giving its hitters a chance to level the game.

But a shaky set and an ensuing wide kill by Turley-Molony ended the Crimson’s comeback attempt.

“It’s definitely a disappointment, but we had a lot of heart towards the end,” Blotky said. “It’s too bad we didn’t have it [throughout the match].”

After dropping the first frame, Harvard dominated the early goings of game two, taking the first seven points of the game on Mahon’s serve.

Though the Crimson led by as much as eight, Northeastern slowly climbed back into the frame, pulling within one point of tying the game at 22-21.

But Harvard held off the Huskies, taking 8 of the next 13 points to escape with a 30-26 victory.

“Our ball control was right on,” said Crimson head coach Jennifer Weiss. “That’s really important—if you can’t pass a ball, you can’t do much of anything else.”

Both teams came out firing to open the match, trading kill for kill. But neither squad could open up a margin larger than two points, and the score remained close for much of the first frame.

With the score tied at 20, however, Northeastern went on a 10-1 run to close out the game and take the early 1-0 match lead.

After looking shaky in the second frame, the Huskies’ offense was unstoppable in game three.

With Harvard hitting at a meager .024 clip, Northeastern jumped out to an early 7-1 lead and kept pounding kill after kill, eventually coasting to a 30-17 win.

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.