Women’s Volleyball Splits Second Weekend In a Row

Last weekend, the Harvard women’s volleyball team split its doubleheader, beating Penn and falling to Princeton. This week saw another split series.

Coming off a strong performance on Friday against Brown, the Crimson (10-6, 5-2 Ivy League) was unable to withstand the conference-leading Yale (12-4, 6-1).

The Bulldogs’ victory over Harvard was its fourth straight win, which allowed Yale to carry a one-game Ancient Eight lead heading into next weekend. The Crimson currently sits in third place.

YALE 3, HARVARD 1

Like Friday’s performance against Brown, the contest started off with a neck-and-neck battle. Sloppy play from the Crimson in the second set gave the Bulldogs a lead, leading to two Yale kills to give the set to the Bulldogs 25-19.

Despite finishing with two more kills than Yale overall, Harvard was plagued by mistakes, including four attack errors and three attack errors in the first set.

The second set appeared as it would again in the Bulldogs direction, as the visitors initiated an early 13-7 lead. However, the Crimson reversed the momentum of the set, going on an impressive offensive streak to bring the set to a 21-17 score.

A balanced attack in that second set run featured kills by freshman hitter Mindie Mabry, junior hitter Jocelyn Meyer, and junior co-captain Christina Cornelius. Harvard would seal the set 25-22.

In set three, Yale jumped out to an early 9-4 lead, forcing the Crimson to call its first timeout. Despite narrowing the deficit to one point at 11-10, Yale broke away and earned an 18-13 lead. Harvard was unable to find the energy to even the score, and the Bulldogs took the set 25-19.

In the fourth and final set, the Crimson withstood the aggressive Yale attack early on in the frame, but a 12-2 run by the Bulldogs in the middle of the set was simply too much for Harvard to claw back from. The Crimson brought the score back to 21-17, but could not withstand consecutive kills from freshman hitter Kathryn Attar to conclude the set and game.

“We showed a lot of strength and kept fighting and firing at them,” sophomore setter Erin McCarthy said. “There are a lot of things we can improve on and we will go back to the gym and work hard.”

Freshman outsider hitter Evelyn Gray made her season debut in the contest, logging three blocks and one kill. In a noticeable emphasis on younger players, the team featured all four of its freshman in this match.

HARVARD 3, BROWN 1

The Crimson recovered from a first-set loss and defeated the Bears in four sets, earning its fifth Ivy win of the season on Friday.

Harvard was spearheaded by three main offensive weapons on Friday night: Cornelius, Mabry, and Roberts Burbank. Combining for a total of 40 kills, the three players had attack percentages over .320 and contributed 45 points out of 70 total points in the contest.

Junior blocker Jocelyn Meyer also had an impressive night serving the ball, breaking through the Brown defense with three aces. Meyer currently leads the team with 20 aces for the season, with the Crimson having tallied 36 aces so far in conference play.

The strength of the two teams were virtually inseparable in the first set, going back and forth through the 10s and 20s. Harvard held the lead at 21-19, but four kills and two Crimson errors ultimately gave Brown the first set victory.

Set two was a completely different narrative. After earning 13 points, the Bears fell victim to an unstoppable Crimson offense for the remainder of the set. Harvard delivered eight of the nine final points in the set, cruising to a 25-14 set victory. The .467 hitting percentage and 17 team kills in set two were both game-highs for the Crimson.

The third and fourth sets followed along the lines of the second set, as Harvard edged out Brown by a score of 25-20 in set three and 25-21 in set four.

The team finished with a kill percentage of 0.311 and 68 team digs, while totaling 58 kills.

“We really played as a team and our chemistry is what helped us win,” Cornelius said. “ We got our passes down, Erin[McCarthy] was able to give me some really good balls, and I was able to find some open spots on the court.”

—Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry.zhu@thecrimson.com