Women's Volleyball Earns Share of Ivy Title; One Game Playoff to Decide NCAA Bid

No one likes sharing.

But when it comes to the co-owning the Ivy League title, the Harvard women’s volleyball team probably isn’t too upset about it.

A loss to Yale on Friday forced the Crimson into a must-win position to earn a share of the Ivy League title. But the following day, Harvard put on a performance that would make Aubrey Graham proud, earning back-to-back conference championships with a 3-1 win over Brown in Providence.

“It’s such an amazing feeling,” freshman Christina Cornelius said. “This has been our goal since day one…. Just being able to accomplish this goal is such a blessing, and it was such an amazing experience too to play with these girls all the time.”

Princeton (15-8, 10-4 Ivy) swept its final games over Cornell and Columbia to bridge the one-game deficit it faced against Harvard coming into the weekend to split the Ivy League title.

HARVARD 3, BROWN 1

Saturday could have been the senior class’ final game with a loss against Brown (10-16, 4-10).

Senior Kathleen Wallace made sure that was not the case.

One point away from securing a share of the conference title, the San Francisco, Calif., native delivered the her final kill of her game-high 13 to clinch the game and the share of the conference title, eliciting cheers from the squad and the Crimson (14-10, 10-4) fan contingent in Providence, R.I.

“This time I’m a litte more proud of,” co-captain Caroline Holte said. “This is proof that we’re the best team in the league.”

Tied at 20 points apiece in the second set, Harvard had a chance to take a 2-0 lead in the game. But two straight kills from Courtney Palm pushed Brown out to a lead that it wouldn’t surrender, as the Bears won the set 25-22.

“Our motto throughout the year has been success is the only option,” Cornelius said. “So a lot of us brought that up [at the break].”

The third set started off with the teams trading points. But after a Sharon Frost kill put the Bears up 9-8, a Wallace kill, an ace from senior libero Sindhu Vegesena, and a slew of Brown errors propelled Harvard to a 10-2 run and a comfortable lead for the remainder of the set.

Brown jumped out to an early lead in the subsequent set which it held for the first half. But after taking a 13-10 lead, the Bears saw the Crimson claw out from its deficit, this time stringing together a 11-4 run to go up 21-17.

Up 23-19, it was only fitting that two seniors closed out the game for the Crimson. Holte got the team within one point with a kill, and Wallace slammed the door shut with hers on the next play.

Junior Corie Bain came just two kills short of picking up what would have been her seventh triple-double of the season.

YALE 3, HARVARD 1

Out of the title race, all Yale could do this weekend was play spoiler, and it did just that.

Mathematically eliminated from winning a share of the title, the Bulldogs (14-9, 9-5) instead ended the Crimson’s hopes of claiming an uncontested conference championship, taking three sets out of four at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium

Down 22-19 in the first set, the Crimson ripped off four straight points behind Bain, Cornelius and sophomore Paige Kebe. The teams then traded the next two points, leaving Crimson with the serve, one point away from claiming the first set. But two straight kills from Kelly Johnson and an ace from freshman phenom Kelley Wirth helped the Bulldogs steal the first set.

The Crimson would win the third set to prevent a sweep from the hands of its archrival, but Yale would take an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set and would not see that margin drop below three for the rest of the game.

Wirth recorded a game-high 19 kills for the Bulldogs, while Bain led the Crimson with 12 en route to a triple-double.

Yale did help out Harvard on Saturday, however, defeating Dartmouth to prevent a three-way tie atop the conference standings. A tiebreaker at a time and date to be determined between Princeton and the Crimson will decide which team earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re the lucky ones... because we have the experience of knowing what it’s like to play for the NCAA Tournament,” Holte said. Last year we let our nerves get the best of us.”

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.