ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Senior Assassin Leads Harvard Attack

Talk about a diamond-in-a-rough weekend for the women’s volleyball team. Despite her total of 46 kills and 39 digs over the span of two games, senior outside hitter Kathryn McKinley’s stellar performance simply wasn’t enough to carry Harvard past Brown or Yale.

“Kat was incredible, making kills out of nothing,” junior co-captain Lily Durwood said.

Friday night in Providence, the Bears took down the Crimson in four tough sets, snapping Harvard’s six-game winning streak in the process. McKinley led the way with a game-high 20 kills and 20 digs while hitting .240, but her efforts fell short in the end.

Brown got off to a strong start in the first set and ultimately won it 25-19 after pushing back a valiant Crimson comeback attempt. Harvard fought back to win a close second frame 25-23.

There was plenty of back-and-forth action in the third set, which ended up going eight extra points until the Bears finally took it 30-28.

The Crimson hung in the fourth set, but multiple strings of points gave Brown the frame 25-19 and Harvard its first Ivy League loss.

“Brown was one where we just didn’t show up and play our game,” McKinley said. “It was not Harvard volleyball.”

The poor results continued the next day in New Haven, as did McKinley’s sparkling statistics, when after managing to erase a two-game deficit, the Crimson fell to the Bulldogs 3-2.

Yale began by taking two close sets by the identical tally of 25-19 on the strength of its attack, highlighted by Bulldog junior Cat Dailey and her nine kills.

With its back against the wall, Harvard seized the third game 25-19, powered by winning streaks of six and seven straight points. McKinley and junior Chelsea Ono Horn had seven kills each, as their team hit .500 and Yale mustered a mere .027.

“We got mad, got angry, got excited, had nothing to lose, and came out and played the way we know how to play,” McKinley said of the Crimson resurgence.

Six more kills from McKinley helped Harvard to victory 25-20 in a must-win fourth game, but the dramatic comeback couldn’t be completed. The Bulldogs took the final frame 15-11.

The Crimson’s defeat came in spite of McKinley’s match-high 26 kills—a career high—her hitting percentage of .511, and her 19 digs, making up her second-straight double-double.

The digs also brought her collegiate total to 1,000, making her the eighth Crimson player ever to reach that statistical milestone.

“They couldn’t stop her,” Durwood said of Yale.

Her impressive play during the two-game sequence was no aberration for McKinley. So far this season she has totaled 189 kills and leads the team with 3.20 kills per game, landing her in fifth place among the Ivy League individual leaders.

Along with an intensified training regimen this past summer, she credits an altered mental approach for her recent accomplishments.

“Coming in as a senior, I really didn’t want to have any regrets,” McKinley said. “I’m trying to play like every ball is my last.”

Ever the consummate team player, she attributes her success to a number of factors, including her coaches, trainers, and fellow players.

“My success isn’t really my success,” McKinley said. “It’s not a team of one; it’s a team of hundreds.”