Harvard Takes Two of Three at Invitational

The Harvard women’s volleyball team showed promise in its first tournament of the season last weekend. Hosting the Harvard Invitational at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Crimson won its first two matches—defeating Colgate, 3-2, and Stony Brook, 3-1—and dropped its final game to Toledo, 3-1.

“We got better all weekend,” Harvard coach Jen Weiss said. “We improved in so many ways in our offensive and defensive system.”

TOLEDO 3, HARVARD 1

In its final match of the weekend, the Crimson faced the undefeated Rockets (6-0). After winning the first set, Harvard dropped three straight for its only defeat of the tournament.

After the Crimson opened a 23-13 lead in the first frame, Toledo responded by winning 10 of the next 11 points. Sophomore Anne Carroll Ingersoll closed out the set with a kill to give Harvard a 1-0 lead, but the Crimson had lost its momentum. The Rockets then cruised in the second set, 25-11.

“If you watch [Toldeo], when they get in system, they play every point all the way through,” Weiss said. “Their block really got established on us into that second game and we weren’t running the offense that we wanted to.”

Harvard dropped the third set, 25-20, and trailed 22-17 in the fourth frame, but it rallied late. A kill by senior co-captain Chelsea Ono Horn followed by consecutive aces from Ingersoll cut the lead to 22-20. Two kills from sophomore Sandra Lynne Fryhofer and one from freshman Jennifer Martin, mixed in with two points for the Rockets, brought the score to 24-23.

A Toledo kill clinched the match on the next point.

HARVARD 3, STONY BROOK 1

In its second match, the Crimson squared off against the Seawolves (1-6) and rolled to a 3-1 win.

“We did awesome,” Weiss said. “We played really well and kept Stony Brook out of system.”

Harvard gathered an early lead, winning the first two sets, 25-19 and 25-23, before dropping the third set, 25-20.

In the fourth frame, the Crimson jumped out to a 10-3 lead and did not look back, winning the set, 25-18, to clinch the match.

Three Harvard players reached double digits in kills. Freshman Taylor Docter led with 14 kills, followed by Ingersoll with 13 and junior Mikaelle Comrie with 12.

Senior Lily Durwood directed the offense, registering 47 assists, and Christine Wu carried the defense with 23 digs.

HARVARD 3, COLGATE 2

In front of a raucous crowd on Friday night, the Crimson (2-1) began its season with a five-set thriller against the Raiders (1-3). Trailing 2-1 after three sets, Harvard built a 23-19 advantage in the fourth frame only to see Colgate fight back and whittle the lead down to 24-23. Needing a point to advance to a fifth set, Durwood set up Comrie for a kill that landed just inbounds. The assist Durwood’s 47th on the evening.

“Lily did a great job running the offense,” Weiss said. “She tried to spread it out and move the hitters…that was the goal”

In the deciding set, the Crimson and Raiders were tied at 13 when Ingersoll took over. On the next two points, Durwood set Ingersoll up for resounding kills that clinched Harvard’s first victory of the season.

“It just happened to be me,” Ingersoll said. “If anything, it was really important that I do my part and be up to take the blockers away so that [Durwood] could have the option to set outside or whatever she needed to do to get the kill.”

Ingersoll recorded a .346 hitting percentage and finished with 12 kills, second only to Docter, who notched 18.

“For her first collegiate game [Docter] did a wonderful job,” Weiss said. “It’s a hard thing to do but she got herself comfortable. She’s had a great preseason, so I had the confidence she would develop her game, and she did wonderfully.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.