Women’s Volleyball Sees Shaky End to Tournament Play in Delaware State Tournament

The Harvard women’s volleyball team (5-4, 0-0 Ivy) ended an up and down non-conference slate with a 1-2 performance at the Delaware State Tournament, losing to host Delaware State (4-9, 0-0 MEAC), routing the New Jersey Institute of Technology (4-12, 0-0 America East), and dropping the last game of the weekend to George Washington (10-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10).

Harvard 2, Delaware State 3

The Crimson’s weekend got off to a rough start even before the first service of the weekend, as inclement weather led to delays in Harvard’s flight plans. Trapped in the airport for hours, the Crimson finally departed for its journey to The First State around midnight on Thursday night.

The flight's late departure was perhaps symbolic of Harvard’s play this season as, yet again, the Crimson got off to a slow start against Delaware State. A jet-lagged Harvard squad surrendered an early five to nothing run, giving the Hornets a 10-4 lead early in the first set.

Self-inflicted wounds by Delaware State kept the Crimson alive, as the first four points of the match for Harvard all came off of errors from the Hornets. But the sluggish play from the Crimson continued through the first half of the set, as Delaware State extended its lead to eight midway through the set.

Just as the Crimson’s flight was delayed but eventually arrived, so too did Harvard’s offense. The Crimson struck back with a run of its own, scoring six straight to cut the deficit to two. Both teams traded points for the remainder of the set until the Hornets had set point at 24-23. With its back against the wall, Harvard responded with resilience and scored three straight to steal the first set. Errors were the story of this set, as Delaware State’s eight unforced missteps gave the Crimson life when all else seemed hopeless.

Set two began as a tight, back and forth affair but ended as a contest of runs. Neither team led by more than two points for the first half of the set, as Harvard held a slim 13-12 lead. The Crimson then struck with the first run of the set as the team bursted out to a 19-12 advantage.

But the Hornets got their revenge, taking ten of the next 13 points. With the set knotted at 22, Harvard ended the run with a kill from senior outside hitter Corinne Furey. Just as in the first set, Delaware State reached set point and the Crimson promptly responded, scoring four of the next five to take another tight set and move to within one set of the victory.

Furey’s big kill was an extra special moment for her, as she is a Wilmington, Del. native. “It was pretty sweet to play in my home state for our final preseason tournament,” the senior said.

The third set was nearly as tight as is possible in volleyball. Neither team led by more than three points at any point or scored more than two points consecutively. The only separation in the set came when the Hornets took four points out of five in the middle of the set to claim a three point lead.

In the end, errors proved too much for Harvard to overcome, as Crimson errors gave Delaware State five of its final seven points en route to a 25-23 set victory. Harvard’s eight errors in the set proved to be the difference not only in the set, but in the match as a whole.

The Hornets carried over momentum from the third set and jumped out to a 10-2 lead early in the fourth. The Crimson’s error bonanza also carried over between sets, as the team logged eight more in the fourth set. This set was never in doubt, as Delaware State cruised to a 25-15 set victory and pushed the game to a decisive fifth set.

Harvard is no stranger to high-pressure volleyball, as this was the fourth of the team’s first seven games to go the distance. The Crimson has embodied the old adage of close games being 50-50 gambles, as Harvard dropped the final set and became 2-2 in fifth sets this season.

In fitting fashion, the fifth set was tight the entire way. Similar to the third set, neither team scored more than two consecutive points nor did either team lead by more than two points. Ultimately, the Hornet happened to reach 15 first in the neck-and-neck set.

Unlike the previous two sets, errors were not the issue for the Crimson this time. Rather, the team was simply unable to contain Delaware State’s offense in crunch time. The Hornets recorded 11 of the team’s 15 points via kills, a high-risk but high-reward style of play.

The final box score revealed that Delaware State’s offense was just too powerful for Harvard. The Hornets held a 60-43 advantage in kills, a 56-42 advantage in assists, and 9-4 lead in service aces, which have been a thorn in the Crimson’s side all year. Harvard did put up impressive block numbers, led by sophomore middle blocker Ryleigh Patterson’s seven and freshman middle blocker Bennett Trubey’s five. Junior outside hitter Brynne Faltinsky also turned in an impressive day, as she led the team with 13 kills and four blocks.

Harvard 3, New Jersey Institute of Technology 0

After 24 hours filled with flight uncertainty and heartbreak, the Crimson got back on track in a big way against the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders (NJIT). Harvard looked immortal in a 3-0 sweep that was as dominant as the score indicates.

In a change of character, the Crimson came out of the gates hot as the team took a 10-5 lead early on. Harvard started to fade away midway through the set as a 6-1 run from the Highlanders evened up the score at 12-12. NJIT’s time as a viable competitor was short lived as the Crimson dominated the remainder of the set to take a 25-17 set victory.

The second set mimicked the first, with the Highlands remaining competitive for a stretch before Harvard proved itself to be in a different class. NJIT took a lead early in the set due to sloppy play from the Crimson. Harvard errors gave the Highlanders three of the team’s first six points. NJIT was able to hold on to the lead for only a few points as a Crimson run first tied the game at ten then gave Harvard a 13-10 lead. The Crimson stayed hot as the lead grew to five before the Highlanders gained traction. Harvard once again overpowered NJIT and claimed the second set 25-18.

Set three consisted of the Crimson playing “anything you can do, I can do better.” The Highlanders go on a 5-0 run, then Harvard matches. NJIT goes on a 3-0 run? The Crimson respond, “How about 5-0?” The Highlanders break up that 5-0 run? How about an 8-1 run to end the match? There can be only one team to win a game of runs, and Harvard was definitively that team in the third set. The 25-15 set victory was the most lopsided of the match.

The Crimson dominated nearly every stat in the boxscore postgame. Harvard more than doubled NJIT in kills as the Crimson recorded 44 to the Highlanders’ 20. In a rare occurrence, Harvard logged more service aces than the other team with six in the match. After a sloppy first match, the Crimson became more crisp, as the team averaged around four errors per set as opposed to the five errors of the first match.

Furey and Faltinksy took their typical spots as Harvard’s leaders in kills once again. Furey slammed home 13 kills to edge out Faltinsky’s 12 for the match lead. Another familiar face once again led the Crimson in assists as senior setter Rocky Aguirre logged 33 of Harvard’s 40 assists for the game. Aguirre also led the team with four service aces. Patterson also logged another strong showing with eight kills and two blocks.

The main goal of preseason tournaments is to grow as a team and the Crimson showed that growth in this dominant victory. Harvard is well aware of the role of these tournaments according to Furey.

“These tournaments allow us to try new things and build momentum for conference play. Ivy play is where we bring all of the lessons learned from our preseason tournaments together and compete for a championship,” added Furey.

The team will need to find its consistency if it hopes to find success in the tough Ivy League. By Courtesy of Dylan Goodman/Harvard Athletics

Harvard 0, George Washington 3

Riding high after dominating NJIT, the Crimson looked to carry momentum to the second match of the day against the George Washington University Revolutionaries (GW). History was not on the side of Harvard as George Washington is known for historically good performances when crossing through Delaware.

GW entered the match against the Crimson having not dropped a set in the entire tournament. While that streak would not change against Harvard, the Crimson put up a strong fight. Harvard used the first set to show its fight as the Crimson traded blows with the Revolutionaries throughout the set. A slight edge for Harvard early on gave way to a slight edge to GW for most of the set. Eventually the Revolutionaries took a four point lead, holding the Crimson at arms length for the remainder of the set to the tune of a 25-21 first set victory.

The two squads exchanged runs to start the second set as Harvard engaged multiple hitters in the offense. GW also maintained its fair share of kills as the Revolutionaries kept pace throughout the set. Just as Harvard looked comfortable exchanging points with GW, the Revolutionaries mounted a surprise 5-0 run to seemingly seize command of the set. The Crimson were able to swiftly rally the troops, however, and respond with a 4-1 run to counterattack. The exchange of runs ended in a stalemate as both sides went back to exchanging points. Harvard took a 23-22 lead late in the set and had GW on the verge of its first dropped set of the tournament. However, the Revolutionaries were able to recover from the edge of defeat and claim yet another set with a 25-23 victory.

After flirting with losing its first set of the tournament, GW took no such chances in the third set. The Revolutionaries jumped out to a lead early in the set and never surrendered it. With the set tied at 5-5, GW won 10 of the next 14 points to gain separation from the Crimson. Harvard was never able to effectively slow the wave of GW’s momentum as the lead swelled to as high as 10 for the Revolutionaries. In the end, it was a 25-16 set victory for GW that sealed the match.

The post-game statistics reflected a closer match than the final score would have indicated. The Crimson trailed the Revolutionaries in nearly every statistic, but the margins were thin. Faltinsky and Furey both recorded double digit kills at 11 and 10, respectively. Patterson narrowly missed joining the club as she finished with 9.

The end of this match also marked the end of tournament season, a bittersweet moment for seniors such as Furey.

“There’s some nostalgia for what’s ending, but I feel a resounding sense of excitement and focus for the road ahead,” said Furey.

Harvard returns to action with its conference opener at home against Dartmouth on Friday, September 27th at 7:00 pm. This match marks the beginning of a three game home stand for the Crimson to start conference play. Though the non-conference season was up and down, Harvard is ready for the challenges ahead, says Furey as she heads into the Ivy League grind for the final time.

“Being a senior has made me especially appreciative of the little things,” Furey said. “The team dinners, the tough practices, the opportunity to wear this jersey and represent our university. But what I feel the most is a hunger and drive for our team to attack conference play and make it back to the Ivy Tournament.”
—Staff writer Reed Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com.