Women Spikers Play Host to Ivy Tourney

The Harvard women's volleyball team, 2-5 in league action (4-14 overall), hosts the Ivy League Championships tomorrow through Sunday at the Malkin Athletic Center.

With its modest league record, the Crimson isn't exactly the odds-on favorite this weekend. Seeded sixth in the eight-team tournament, the spikers will have to overcome a tendency to start slow if they hope to be successful.

"We have to come out and play really hard," senior Jodi Cassell said. "We can't blow the first sets and expect to do well."

Harvard has lost the first set 14 out of 18 times this year, and the spikers have also found themselves behind two sets to none in matches on 14 occasions.

The Ivy tournament will operate on a best-two-of-three format--unlike regular-season contests, which run on a best-three-of-five basis. That meanse that the Crimson will have added impetus to start quickly.

"We have to come out strong. We can't play catch up," senior Stephanie Salinas said. "We have to score early."

Harvard opens the tournament against third seed Princeton tomorrow at 5 p.m. Earlier in the season, the Tigers swept the Crimson, 15-1, 15-3, 15-1.

"We are going to be so hungry in the tournament, it doesn't matter whom we play," Harvard Coach Wayne Lem said.

"Although we lost to Princeton earlier, I know we can beat them," sophomore Captain Maia Forman said. "Our defense and coverage has improved since then."

Falling Short

But going into the match with Princeton--and throughout the tournament--Harvard will have one major disadvantage: height.

"We are the shortest team in the Ivies, so we are getting picked on with middle-blockers," Lem said. "Our defense position will have to improve to counter our lack of height."

Since 1977, Princeton has won the Ivy Championship six times, Penn twice, and Yale once. The last, and only, time the Ivy tournament was held at Harvard was in 1981. That same year, the spikers placed fourth with a 3-4 record--the Crimson's best finish ever at an Ivy tourney.

Frustration

The spikers have posted an overall 9-39 record (excluding 1979) in the Ivy tournament, and a 9-21 record since becoming a varsity squad in 1981.

"It has been really frustrating losing a lot of games," said Salinas, who has played varsity for four seasons. "We've been beating ourselves in most matches. But we aren't dead yet."

One plus for the Crimson has been the improved play of its bench. Since the beginning of the season, Lem's confidence in his subs has increased to the point that he will now make substitutions in every contest.

"The subs have improved, and they've gained a lot of experience over the year," Forman said. "We know they will give 100 percent every time they step into a game.

Last year the spikers, playing under an undergraduate coach, finished with a dismal 4-17 record. This season, newcomer Lem--hired after 10 years of service at Boston College--has effected a change in atmosphere, if not a noticeable change in record.

"We are definitely better than last year's team. We are also better than our record," Salinas said. "There is a lot of team spirit, a lot of the credit goes to Coach Lem. He's more professional than our last coaches."

And this weekend could be the first step in Harvard's bid for legitimacy in the Ivy League.

"I think we are going to do well in the Ivies," Lem said. "If not this year, definitely next year. We aren't going to be the doormat of the Ivy League anymore."