Women’s Volleyball Drops Two of Three

For a team that lost four of its best players to graduation last year, it could have gone a lot worse.

With old faces gone and new faces present, the Harvard women’s volleyball team (1-2) stepped onto the court at the Harvard Invitational unsure of how it would fare.

The Crimson went 1-2 in the three-game tournament, falling to Eastern Illinois (3-1)and Boston College (4-3) while beating Bryant (4-3) in a tight five-set match.

“Right now we have a very young team, and it’s going to be a huge building year,” sophomore Taylor Docter said. “We have a lot of room for improvement.”

The invitational has a distinctly preseason feel, with lineups being constantly readjusted and teams shaking the rust off.

“It’s a good way to get some competitive games in before we start playing league games,” Docter added. “It’s a good way to get in some practice and learn to play together.”

BOSTON COLLEGE 3, HARVARD 0

Harvard fell, 25-14, 25-15, 25-13, in a convincing win for Boston College on Saturday night in the tournament finale.

“That was a tough one,” said junior co-captain Anne Carroll Ingersoll. “They’re a good team, but we didn’t play as we should have been playing. There was kind of a lack of energy on court.”

An upside of the match was the performance of the freshmen. Teresa Skelly and Natalie Doyle led the team statistically, Skelly with six kills and Doyle with 19 assists.

“We had a couple freshman starters, and they really proved themselves,” Ingersoll said. “I know a couple of them were nervous at first, but they contributed a lot and came up with a lot of points.”

At the conclusion of the invitational, Crimson juniors Sandra Lynne Fryhofer and Christine Wu were named to the all-tournament team. Fryhofer had 19 kills over the weekend, while Wu had 62 digs.

HARVARD 3, BRYANT 2

In the second match of the weekend, Harvard rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to narrowly take the victory from Bryant. After falling behind after three sets, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, the Crimson surged back with 30-28 and 15-12 victories in the last two frames to take the five-set win.

Helping the Harvard cause were Skelly, Fryhofer, and Docter, who all had more than 10 kills in the match, and Wu, who notched 35 digs. Doyle had 34 assists in the match. Skelly and Doyle led the rookies in making an impact.

“[The freshmen] are doing great,” Docter said. “Teresa had a really great weekend.”

After falling behind, 28-27, to the Bulldogs in the fourth set, the Crimson faced match point. But a quick three-point rally won the set for Harvard and put Bryant back under pressure.

“I think that [win] was really good for us,” Ingersoll said. “We knew we still weren’t at our best, but I think it felt good mentally. The fifth set is really a mental game—who wants it more?”

In the fifth set, the Crimson again found itself down and under pressure, with the score 12-11 Bryant. And again, Harvard rallied, winning four straight points to take the fifth set and the match.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, HARVARD 1

Harvard could not please the home crowd on Friday night, losing, 25-17, 21-25, 25-13, 25-19, to Eastern Illinois in the season opener.

“We were really excited to play,” Ingersoll said. “Our intensity wasn’t consistent, especially in that game. We could have pulled out another two games to win.”

Docter racked up 14 kills and Wu made 21 digs, both match highs. Fryhofer was second to Docter on the team with a .200 attack percentage.

“Individually, some girls had really good games,” Ingersoll added. “Sandra Lynne really controlled the net.”

The Crimson has two more preseason tournaments in the upcoming weekends, which will serve as preparation for the league season and the ultimate goal of winning the Ivy League Championship.

“It was definitely a jumping-off point,” Ingersoll said. “We hope to work well as a team and keep improving our chemistry so that we can be at our peak at Ivies.”

—Staff writer Charlie Cabot can be reached at ccabot@college.harvard.edu.