New York Road Trip Concludes in Two Conference Losses

The news wasn’t all bad this weekend for Harvard (11-11, 4-8 Ivy), who suffered two losses at the hands of Columbia (15-7, 9-3 Ivy), 25-19, 25-22, 25-20, and Cornell (6-18, 3-9 Ivy), 21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 15-13.

Co-captain libero Christine Wu moved into second place for the all-time record in digs in the Ivy League. She crossed the threshold with 28 digs on Friday night. Combined with another team-leading defensive performance on Saturday with 21 digs, Wu now holds the mark with 1,801 digs.

Wu has shown improvement and consistency over her career, registering a digs-per-set average of 4.11 in her freshman year, 5.11 as a sophomore, 4.48 the next year, and 5.55 thus far this campaign.

“I feel so grateful to get to be her teammate,” junior setter Beth Kinsella said. “We are so proud of her for getting in the record books, but it’s hardly a surprise, given her ridiculous defensive skills. Wu is an inspiring leader and the most humble person you will ever meet.”

Of her accomplishment, Wu said, “Coming into my career, I wanted to leave a mark and help my team. [The achievement of being second all-time in the Ivy League] reflects a passion and commitment for the game.”

Wu, who plans on going to Europe to play for another season after graduation this year, is not quite ready to say goodbye to competitive sports.

“I love the game so much, I just can’t give it up.”

CORNELL 3, HARVARD 2

The tone was set from the get-go on Saturday with a combination of punches and counterattacks from each team.

The Crimson started off strong with a pair of kills from freshman middle blocker Caroline Walters and freshman outside hitter Kristen Casey.

The first set, which saw five ties and two lead changes, was secured by a string of three straight Harvard points to go up 22-18, thanks to a couple big Kinsella serves.

The next two sets belonged to an aggressive Big Red team, who had a hitting percentage of .279 for the match.

Facing elimination, the Crimson fought back valiantly as a team, with six players recording kills, including four from sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Beck to win the fourth set. In the fifth set, though Harvard closed a 7-2 gap to take a 10-9 lead, it was unable to hold on and lost, 15-13.

“Two points were the difference between us winning and losing, which was frustrating, because we really picked up our game near the end of the match,” Kinsella said.

The highly-contested battle occurred on a night when Cornell paid homage to its four seniors.

“Their fans didn’t really affect us directly, but it gave the Cornell girls a bit more energy and momentum to fight,” Wu said. “We didn’t respond as well.”

COLUMBIA 3, HARVARD 0

Friday’s match was closer than the 3-0 score indicated.

After narrowing a 20-9 first-set lead in Columbia’s favor, the Crimson fell short, losing by a score of 25–19.

In the second set, Harvard and the Lions battled all the way through with six lead changes and 13 ties.

Despite leading by three early, the Crimson was unable to break through, losing the second set, 25-22, on an attack error by Casey.

Second-place Columbia went on to win the third set, 25-20, and take the match.

“We made a lot of errors at the wrong time and allowed Columbia to get large leads on us that were difficult to come back from despite hard efforts from our hitters, including Kristen Casey and Teresa Skelly,” Kinsella said.

With the losses, Harvard will split the season set with Columbia and account for two of Cornell’s three wins in the Ivy League.

Despite the loss, Harvard and its seniors—who just completed the last road trip of their career—recognized the value of the season, and mostly, that it’s not over.

“Despite the outcome, I’m so proud to be a member of the Harvard volleyball team,” co-captain Sandra Lynne Fryhofer said. “Any other year, I would have been upset by the outcome. But with a senior perspective, I know that in the end, I won’t remember the specific wins or losses.”

The Crimson closes its season with two home matches next weekend against Yale and Brown.