Split Marks Final Weekend

This past weekend, seniors Lily Durwood, Alissa Flesher, Katherine Kocurek, and co-captain Chelsea Ono Horn of the Harvard women’s volleyball team played their last games for the Crimson.

In its final two games of the season, Harvard experienced both the joy of victory and the bitterness of defeat. The Crimson (12-13, 8-6 Ivy) defeated previously unbeaten Penn (20-5, 11-1 Ivy) on Friday, but lost to Princeton (11-13, 9-4 Ivy) on Saturday. The Crimson finished the season sharing third place with Princeton in the Ivy League standings.

PRINCETON 3, HARVARD 1

In its final match of the 2009-10 campaign, Harvard faced Princeton, a team it had previously defeated. But on Saturday, the Crimson was unable to duplicate its earlier success and fell to the Tigers at Princeton’s Dillon Gymnasium with scores of 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, and 25-23.

Ono Horn notched a double-double in the match with 13 kills and 10 digs, while Durwood ended her record-setting career with 56 assists—the collegiate best for a four-set match—in addition to 15 digs.

“[Princeton] has a really good offense,” Ono Horn said, “but I think that we came back and countered with an equally good offense thanks to Lily.”

Sophomore Anne Carroll Ingersoll led the team with 16 kills and a .519 clip. Junior Mikaelle Comrie also contributed with 15 kills.

Harvard barely out-defended Princeton, posting 88 digs to the Tigers’ 87, and the Crimson also had the advantage in blocks, 6-4. Sophomore Christine Wu led the defense with 27 digs. Kocurek and junior co-captain Miyoko Pettit pitched in defensively as well with 10 digs each.

Princeton had the edge on Harvard offensively, recording 74 kills to the Crimson’s 62.

HARVARD 3, PENN 2

Friday night, the Crimson took on Penn, the only undefeated team in the Ivy League. In the teams’ previous matchup, the Quakers pummeled Harvard, winning the match 3-1. But this time, the Crimson matched the No. 1 team and more, defeating Penn with scores of 25-22, 12-25, 27-25, 25-16, 15-10. The victory ended Harvard’s nine-match losing streak versus Penn.

“We all felt like we had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Ingersoll said, “just by having fun and playing our best. It was nice to mess up their undefeated season.”

After winning the first set, 25-22, the Quakers utilized a 7-0 and 6-0 run during the second set to win it, 25-12.

When the third set went into overtime, freshman Taylor Docter’s play helped the Crimson win it. Ono Horn served with the score tied at 25, and Docter made a block that caused an attack error by Penn. Then, with Harvard up by one, an assist by Durwood led to a kill by Docter—the eighth of her thirteen kills for the night.

“Taylor [Docter] was on it,” Ono Horn said. “Her blocks, her kills, she made several key plays at the end of ever game that helped us win.”

Two other Crimson players notched double-digit kills: Comrie and sophomore Sandra Lynne Fryhofer, who recorded 12 and 10, respectively. Durwood continued to create scoring opportunities for her teammates with 47 assists. Ingersoll contributed seven kills and five blocks in the victory.

Three Harvard players also recorded double-digit digs. Wu led the squad with 24, while Ono Horn and Kocurek added 17 and 24, respectively.

Penn committed 10 service errors in the match, and the Crimson exhibited strong net play, out-blocking the Quakers 12-6. Harvard also held sizeable advantages in both kills, 82-50 and digs, 98-75. The Crimson sealed the victory in the fifth set by avoiding any attack errors.

The departing seniors looked back on the weekend with a bittersweet sense of finality.

“Ending a season is always sad,” Ono Horn said. “[And] this season, we placed the best of any team that I’ve ever been a part of. The fact that volleyball is over hasn’t even really hit me [yet].”

“[The seniors’] energy is so great,” Ingersoll added. “They really did carry the rest of the team along. I’m really sad to see them go.”