Women’s Volleyball Drops Two in First Ivy League Road Trip

After a fast start at home to kick off Ivy League play, the Harvard women’s volleyball team (8-6, 3-2 Ivy) stumbled on its first road trip of the conference season, losing via sweep to Princeton (5-9, 3-2 Ivy) and dropping a tight, five set match to UPenn (9-6, 3-3 Ivy). This weekend left the Crimson still looking for its first win in a true road game, as the team fell to 0-4 when not defending its home turf. Conversely, Harvard has valiantly defended the halls of the Malkin Athletic Center, posting an impressive 6-0 record while playing in Harvard Square.

“At home, we thrive in that environment; the crowd, friends, family, and the men’s volleyball team support us immensely,” sophomore setter Amelie Lima said. “Adapting to an utterly different environment on the road is much more challenging. I believe that when we are on the road, we can improve by keeping our same game day rituals and routine. Having a routine is essential for getting into the mindset of playing a formidable team.”

Harvard 0, Princeton 3

Harvard put its three game win-streak on the line as the team traveled down to Princeton, N.J. to take on the Tigers. The Crimson had won nine of its last 11 sets entering the match, but was blanked by Princeton, a foe that Harvard has struggled to topple in the past.

The Tigers pounced on the visiting team early and took an 8-1 lead in the first set. Princeton seized the lead with little resistance from the Crimson as the Tigers logged three service aces in the first nine points. After allowing Princeton to take a ten point lead, Harvard finally started to show some fight as the Crimson nibbled the advantage down to six before ultimately dropping the set by a score of 25-14 after another late Tiger surge.

The second set started out with promise for Harvard before the team faded in the second half of the period. The two squads traded blows early in the set before a Crimson run created some separation. Princeton never lost touch, however, as the Tigers crept back to match Harvard before weathering another Crimson surge and besting a 4-0 run by Harvard with a 14-3 run of its own – including smaller 6-0 and 4-0 bursts. This all culminated in a 25-18 set victory for the Tigers, poising the home team for an easy defense of its court.

Set three was the most tightly contested of the match as the teams exchanged punches throughout the set. The lead changed hands early and often in the final set as there were 12 ties in total. Princeton held the lead early before the Crimson took a slight advantage throughout the middle of the set. The Tigers then briefly regained the lead from 18-18 to 21-21. In what would seem to be a surge of brilliance and changing tides, Harvard regained its footing, not wanting to leave New Jersey without a fight.

A late 4-0 run by the Crimson gave Harvard a 24-21 lead and made a fourth set seem inevitable. That set would never come as the true inevitability was the dominance of Princeton’s sophomore outside hitter Kamryn Chaney. Chaney led both teams in kills on the day with 15, but none were louder or more impactful than her kills late in the third set. An attack error by the Crimson brought the score to 24-22 before Chaney scored two straight kills to tie up the set at 24. Harvard responded with a kill from a sophomore phenom of its own, middle blocker Ryleigh Patterson. Chaney would get the last laugh, however, as she hit one final kill to tie the set at 25 before her team scored the final two points to secure the set and the sweep, putting the nail in the coffin of Harvard’s squashed comeback run.

In a near inverse of Harvard’s Ivy League opener against Dartmouth, it was the Crimson getting “roofed” by the Tiger’s blockers. Harvard was out-blocked 13-7 by Princeton. The Tiger defensive wall also contributed to the putrid 0.048 hitting percentage by the Crimson.

After curing its error bug over the past three matches, errors came back in a big way to haunt Harvard throughout the match. It was an attack error by the Crimson that sparked the last run for Princeton and another hitting error that gave the Tigers the final lead of the game. Aces also continue to malay Harvard as the Crimson recorded fewer service aces than its opponent again, a troubling trend for the team.

Patterson and junior outside hitter Brynne Faltinsky tied for the lead for kills with eight apiece. Patterson also led the team in blocks, her prowess making her one of the few bright spots for the team throughout the night. As per usual, senior setter Rocky Aguirre led the team in assists with 19.

Harvard 2, Penn 3

After the disappointing performance on Friday at Princeton, Harvard made the trek an hour southwest to Philadelphia to take on the Quakers of UPenn. Somewhere along I-95, the Crimson figured out some of the errors that plagued the team at Princeton, but the City of Brotherly Love did not prove lovely to Harvard as the team fell just short in the end despite an improved performance.

Not among the areas improved by the Crimson was the team’s affinity for slow starts. Harvard once again spotted the other team a huge lead early in the first set. After going up 3-2 in the early onset, the Crimson surrendered a 10-2 run to UPenn to give the Quakers a 12-5 lead. Despite improved play by Harvard for the remainder of the set, UPenn ended up breezing by to a 25-18 win. The seven-point margin of victory for the Quakers was the exact margin the team gained from the Crimson’s sluggish start. For Harvard, any hope of truly competing for an Ivy League title relies on the squad finding a remedy for the abysmal starts that have put too much pressure on the team to be perfect in later sets.

The second set saw the Crimson maintain the groove established in the back half of the first set before stepping on the gas midway through the set. The two teams exchanged points for the first half of the set with neither side taking more than a two point lead up to a 12-11 Quaker advantage. Needing to avoid going down two sets to none for the second match in a row, Harvard turned up the intensity and burst out on a 14-4 run to end the set in decisive fashion. Faltinsky sparked the run with two kills and a block in between for good measure. Junior outside hitter Peyton Hollis and Patterson took over from there as they both scored three kills in the 14 point span.

After the Crimson dominated the second set, UPenn took its turn at domination in the third as the Quakers seized control early and left no doubt who was taking the set. Harvard scored the first point of the set, but that would be the only bright spot of a set the players would likely hope to forget. UPenn tied it up with the second point and took a lead that would never be surrendered with the third point. Eventually, the Quakers took the set 25-15.

After two sets of blowouts, the penultimate set of the match ended with a close score, but the Crimson was unable to totally overhaul its play, and the final tally resembled the play of the previous two sets. The set started off wanting to emulate the second as the Crimson used an early run to grab a 9-5 lead. Then the set decided it wanted to replay the third set as UPenn launched a run of its own to take the lead. This oscillation of runs continued throughout the set. It appeared that the Quakers would get the last laugh as they used a 3-0 run to force a 24-23 set and match point. Harvard, however, refused to back down and launched a 3-0 run in response that was capped off with a joint block by the young duo of sophomore outside hitter Ali Farquhar and freshman middle blocker Bennett Trubey.

All tied at two sets apiece, the match went to a 15 point fifth set to decide who would be the victor. After going down 1-3 early, the Crimson seemed poised to steal one on the road after a 7-1 run gave the team a four point advantage halfway to the 15 point benchmark. Unfortunately for Harvard, UPenn was able to emulate Philadelphia’s favorite son, Rocky Balboa, and launch a late charge to snatch an unlikely upset victory. The Quakers responded with an 8-1 run and staved off the Crimson’s final push to win the set 15-13 and take the match.

Despite the disappointing nature of the loss, there were some signs of hope for Harvard. The team averaged only five errors per set instead of the eight averaged against Princeton. Hitting percentage also improved, though, there was hardly any way to go but up after the infinitesimal number produced against the Tigers. The Crimson won the blocks battle for the match, but the biggest cause for hope for Harvard is the continued growth and contributions from the sophomore and junior classes that provide belief that the team can continue to improve as the young players grow throughout the season.

The service line continues to stymie the Crimson as Harvard managed a meager two service aces as compared to UPenn's 11. Most concerning for the Crimson is the timing with which these issues resurfaced. While the game against Princeton was not a match the team was favored in, UPenn was. Losing to the Quakers shrinks Harvard’s margin for error for the remainder of the season if the team wishes to make the conference tournament again. The Crimson have a lot to fix, but the next opponent is not a team that will let you work through your errors.

Harvard welcomes perennial power and Ancient Eight rival Yale to the Malkin Athletic Center on Friday at 7:00pm. The match presents the Crimson with an opportunity to steal a conference victory and put a tarnish on a hated rival’s perfect conference record. The good news for Harvard is its home record has the same zero on the end as the Bulldogs conference record. Lima believes that staying focused throughout the week and elevating the team’s play on Friday will be enough for the Crimson to maintain the team’s perfect home record.

“Yale has always been an incredible team. Still, we fortunately get to play them first at home, so being on our home court will elevate our play and make for a super energetic, competitive match. For our preparation for this match, we will continue our practices and lifts throughout the whole week, but also mentally prepare for this anticipated match,” Lima said.

—Staff writer Reed Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com