Crimson Falls in Ivy Schedule Opener

Last year, the Harvard women’s volleyball team had Dartmouth’s number, claiming both contests against the Big Green.

This year, in the Crimson’s Ivy opener, the number was 3-0...in favor of Dartmouth.

In a disappointing start to Ancient Eight play on Friday, Harvard (4-8, 0-1 Ivy) dropped three-straight sets to an offensively-charged Darthmouth (5-6, 1-0) at the Malkin Athletic Center.

“It’s a matter of not playing selfishly,” sophomore Anne Carroll Ingersoll said. “We might have been a little freaked out today about the first Ivy game. If there’s one thing we could take into next week, it’s focus on the team.”

Next week provides the Crimson with an immediate shot at redemption. Harvard travels to Durham, N.H. on Friday to do battle with the Big Green once again.

“Hopefully, next week the score will be 3-0 Harvard,” junior co-captain Miyoko Pettit said.

Entering the first frame, the Crimson experienced problems in the back row, where Dartmouth successfully directed numerous attacks throughout the game. The Big Green took a slight 8-5 lead off of kills from sophomore powerhouse Madeline Baird and Crimson attack errors, but the home team regained its footing off of a powerfully-struck kill from freshman Taylor Docter. Soon thereafter, a block from junior Mikaelle Comrie evened the score at 9-9.

Coming back from a timeout, the Big Green responded with a 6-0 run that took advantage of Harvard misfires and miscommunication.

At 22-15, senior Lily Durwood launched a well-placed volley into a gap in the Dartmouth D, earning an unusual point and regaining possession for the Crimson. The efforts were not enough as the Big Green made up for the mistake with a 3-0 streak to win the set, 25-16.

Some of the miscommunication from the initial set lingered into the second; a set from senior Katherine Kocurek dropped to Harvard’s court untouched to put Dartmouth up 4-2.

Harvard fell back on its defense to generate a consistent tempo, with Comrie, Docter, and Ingersoll contributing much-needed blocking efforts to help boost Harvard to a 9-6 lead.

Defense proved crucial for the Crimson all night. Although Dartmouth put up six and a half blocks relative to Harvard’s six, and the two teams both totaled 60 digs on the night, scrappy defensive play kept Harvard in the game. Accepting the serve did prove to be a problem, though, as Dartmouth racked up eight aces on the night.

“Dartmouth was banging balls, and [the defense was] sticking in there,” Ingersoll said. “Dartmouth had a great block up, and that was tough on our hitters. That might have intimidated us a little bit. It’s something we need to get over.”

Without an effective offense, however, Harvard soon fell behind. The team as a whole was held to a .094 hitting percentage. Ingersoll, who leads the Crimson with 2.97 kills per set, managed only 11 against the Big Green.

Led by Baird, who dropped 16 kills against the Crimson, Dartmouth revamped its attack to tie it at 13-13. But a monstrous strike from Ingersoll that ricocheted off a Big Green defender and into the stands demonstrated that Harvard was not out of the game just yet.

The teams jostled for the lead, tying nine times throughout the third. Down the stretch, a haymaker from sophomore Sandra Lynne Fryhofer gave Harvard a promising 20-19 lead. But a series of Crimson errors provided the Big Green with the opportunity to take the lead and run with it to a 25-22 victory.

One bright spot for the Crimson came in the form of freshman Jennifer Martin, who came up big to begin the third frame by diving around the back row, denying the Big Green with two bumps and allowing Harvard to eventually earn its first point of the set.

“She is a fireball—she was a spark tonight,” Pettit said.

The outside hitter only tallied two kills throughout the game but provided Harvard with more than stats.

“She pumps the team up when she comes in,” Ingersoll said. “We can all feed off her energy when we’re not there.”

Defensive efforts from Durwood and sophomore Christine Wu enabled Harvard to advance its attack; a long-range snipe from Docter put the Crimson up 8-5. Docter hit for nine kills throughout the night.

The Big Green clawed its way back to a 10-9 lead off of blasts from Baird and senior Megan MacGregor. From there, the two teams kept it close and frequently exchanged the lead. Dartmouth emerged on top at 18-16 and did not look back from there. Appropriately, the Big Green completed the sweep off of one final Baird kill that struck a Harvard defender and bounced wildly out-of-bounds.

—Staff writer Emmett Kistler can be reached at ekistler@fas.harvard.edu.