W. Spikers Sweep Assumption, Wheaton

The list of victims for the Harvard women's volleyball team is getting mighty long.

Yesterday at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Crimson added Wheaton and Assumption to that list--capturing straight-set victories in both contests.

The Crimson dominated not only in skill, but also in size. The powerful Crimson team was able to take a quick 5-0 lead before their opponents tallied a single point on the way to their first set victory, 15-6.

"In the first set our serves got us all our points," Manda Schossberger said. "Wheaton couldn't pick up our serves."

However, Wheaton rallied when the Crimson bench replaced the starters in the second set. Harvard trailed Wheaton for most of the second set despite stellar preformances by the bench players. Co-Captain Maia Forman and Carolyn Burger came through with several key saves as the Crimson gained its composure and came back with nine consecutive points to rally from a 14-7 deficit to clinch the set and match.

"Our skill level is much higher, that's why we could come back from such a huge deficit," Harvard Coach Wayne Lem said. "It is an example of how hard we have worked and how far we have come."

"The bench played really well," Co-Captain Jodi Cassell said. "It shows a lot of potential for next year."

The Wheaton squad, which Harvard faced earlier this season, proved not to be much of a match for the Crimson. However, it did give the seniors on the team a victory in their final home appearance.

Assumed It Would Be A Win

In the second match, the Crimson wasted little time in destroying an overmatched Assumption team, 15-5, 16-14 to capture its 15th victory of the season.

"It's a credit to Wayne that we've outgrown these division two and three teams," Cassell said, referring to the fact that Harvard defeated every division two and three team it faced this year. "The program is definitely going in the right direction."

With the victory, the Crimson improved its record to 15-8 (3-4 Ivy), tripling its victory total of five wins last season when the squad registered a 5-16 mark.

Forman registered 19 assists and two aces in limited actin. Cassell and Suzie Tapson led the team in the second match with four kills apiece.

Pascale Jean-Louis, Lee Polikoff and Schossberger contributed two kills in the route.

After Assumption tied the match at 6-6, Callie Huber and Peri Wallace responded with two kills, as Harvard rolled off the next seven points to win the set.

The second set was a little closer, with Lem mixing up his starters with the second-stringers. Harvard jumped out to a 7-3 advantage, but Assumption rallied to tie the match at 8-8.

But the superior Crimson squad went on to seal the victory.

"We were really relaxed, we knew we were going to win," Susie Nemes said.

We're gonna miss you

On a sad note, Tapson, Huber, Jean-Louis and Cassell all played their last home matches as members of the Harvard women's volleyball team.

I've really enjoyed being a part of this team," Huber said. "It's sad that this was the last home match for [the seniors]. It's going to be really sad after the Ivy tournament."

"I'm glad we won the matches for the seniors," Forman said. "It was a fun match. Everybody got a chance to play."

The Crimson ends its regular season when it visits the University of Connecticut this Tuesday to tuneup for the Ivy League Tournament next weekend at Columbia.