Women's Volleyball Looks to Bounce Back from Brown Defeat

Following last weekend’s ups and downs after beating archrival Yale but falling to Brown, the Harvard women’s volleyball team (8-4, 1-2 Ivy) looks to steady its course and bolster its chances of taking the Ivy League championship as it travels to New York to take on Cornell (3-10, 0-3) and Columbia (6-6, 2-1).

“The one really fun thing about the Ivies is that it’s pretty even,” Cornell coach Melissa Batie-Smoose said. “Any given week, the number one team gets beat by two teams it hasn’t lost to in a while.”

On Friday and Saturday, the Crimson will face off against two conference opponents in Ithaca and New York City. Harvard looks to rebound from a loss against Brown (6-9, 1-2) in straight sets on Saturday, and improve its record in the Ancient Eight standings.

Sophomore setter Corinne Bain and co-captain Caroline Walters led the Crimson in Saturday’s conference battle against Brown in the Malkin Athletic Center. Bain had 10 kills, six digs, and 17 assists in her sixth straight double-double.  Walters also contributed with 10 kills and three blocks.

“Last weekend was pretty disappointing,” co-captain Kristen Casey said. “Obviously beating Yale was a big deal on Friday, but we were disappointed about the loss to Brown on Saturday. We’re really working on trying to make sure that we play as well against Yale [as we do] against all of our opponents.”

Cornell will try to snap a five-game losing streak and earn its first Ivy League win. In Saturday’s loss to Penn, senior libero Natasha Rowland led the team on defense with 23 digs, making her sixth place all-time on the university’s career dig list. Sophomore setter Alyssa Phelps and rookies Chelsea Sincox and Emily Wenhoff also notched double digit digs.

“We haven’t had one Ivy [game] at home,” Batie-Smoose said. “It’s really nice for a young team to be home and play in front of their home crowd.”

Columbia is also looking to bounce back from a close defeat on the road against Princeton on Saturday night. Freshman outside hitter Anja Malesevic and junior outside hitter Bailey Springer had 12 kills apiece, and sophomore setter Jennifer Petrovich joined the Lions 1,000-plus assist club after having 35 assists.

The Big Red has a comfortable lead in the history of the series, but the Crimson has won the last four matchups, including a win in straight sets on Cornell’s senior night last year. This year, Cornell will try to put last year’s home loss behind them and add another win to their series against the Crimson.

The team will travel from Ithaca to New York City on Saturday to take on Columbia. The teams have split the season series during 2012 and 2013.

Junior outside hitter Bailey Springer led the team in kills with nine in last year’s 3-0 loss in the Malkin Athletic Center. She has led the Lions on offense thus far in the team’s 2014 campaign, registering 121 kills. The third-year player has also been a force on defense, notching 63 kills.

“Columbia is a defensive team and a good serving,” Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. “We will disrupt their game plan with an aggressive attack and scrappy defense.”

Walters and junior outside hitter Kathleen Wallace led the Crimson in the home win against the Lions last year with 11 and 10, respectively. Bain led the team in assists with 19, followed by junior stter Hannah Schmidt’s 18.

The Crimson looks to reverse its luck on the road as of late. The squad was 4-6 on the road in the 2013 season, and opened up conference play this season with a loss against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.