Women's volleyball Drops Princeton in Straight Sets

In the past four years, the Harvard women’s volleyball team has only beaten Princeton twice. The first was a 3-0 sweep in Princeton, N.J. on Oct. 19 and the second was on Friday night at the Malkin Athletic Center, again in straight sets. The win was Harvard’s sixth straight at home.

“Last time, we shut them down,” co-captain Natalie Doyle said. “It was our goal to so the same in our house this weekend.”

While the Crimson (13-8, 8-4 Ivy) steadily held the lead throughout the entire first and second sets to take them 25-19 and 25-18, respectively, winning the third didn’t come quite as easily.

The Tigers (9-13, 5-7 Ivy) jumped out to an early lead, but the tides began to turn as a kill by Harvard sophomore Kathleen Wallace set the Crimson on a five-point streak.

“We stuck to our system and our outsides were just on fire,” Doyle said. “We just played steady and effectively blew them out.”

Wallace and freshman outside hitter Grace Weghorst led the team in kills, with 10 apiece. Just behind them was freshman setter Corinne Bain, who proved just as formidable from the backcourt as she is as the net, chipping in seven kills. Bain had her twelfth double-double of the season, with 20 assists and 15 digs. Bain split duties at the net with sophomore Hannah Schmidt, who had 14 sets on the night.

“Our setting is a pretty strong setting combination we have between Hannah and Cori,” Wallace said. “They’re very good at making strong decisions because they keep our opponent guessing in terms of who will be set next.”

The two teams continued to trade the lead 10 times until Harvard sealed the deal under Weghorst’s serve. A block by junior Caroline Walters and senior Erin Cooney brought the game to match point, and a service ace by Weghorst gave the Crimson the ‘W’.

Harvard effectively used blocking systems at the net to shut down two of the Ivy League’s top three leaders in kills per set—Princeton’s Kendall Peterkin and Cara Mattaliano. The Tigers attack unit hit at just .149 while the Crimson held an advantage with a .330 hitting percentage.

“I think our team is a very strong blocking team, but we are especially good in the middle,” Wallace said. “[Sophomore Caroline] Holte and Walters are forces to be reckoned with in our team.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordelia.mendez@thecrimson.com.