Volleyball

It took less than 72 hours for the Harvard women's volleyball team to equal its 1986-87 regular season win total.

The Crimson opened its season with a victory over Wellesley and then rolled to a 3-1 mark in a New England tournament, giving the squad four wins on the new season.

Harvard's season-opening 15-8, 15-12, 15-13 victory over Wellesley last Thursday at the Malkin Athletic Center put the Crimson above the 500 mark for the first time since 1984.

And the Crimson's three victories in the Central Conecticut State University (CCSU) tournament gave the Crimson four wins, a total the team reached only after playing a full schedule last year.

Over the weekend, the Crimson recorded victories over Lehigh, Central Connecticut State University and Columbia at the CCSU tournament before losing to Holy Cross and finished tied for third with Brown.

But the tone for the season had been set earlier.

"I hope this [win] showed that we're a lot more experienced and an overall better team," said Co-Captain Maia Forman after the Wellsley game. "We were definitely stronger at the net."

Wellesley quickly jumped to a 6-3 advantage, but unlike last year, the spikers did not self-destruct. They came back and won the set, 15-8.

The key to Harvard's comeback was Manda Schossberger's service game. She was able to hold her serve for six straight points, with some help from thunderous spikes by Suzie Tapson, Louise Polikoff and Co-Captain Jodie Cassell.

"Number 11 [Schossberger] was the main reason why they beat us," Wellseley Coach Rhonda Kolarik said. "She can hit, block, serve and play at the backline. She's a great overall player."

"If she had played against us last year, they would have won," Kolarik added. "If we could have shut her down, we could have shut down the whole team. She's that good of a player."

Both Susanna Nemes and Yvonne Karanas put in fine outings, and showed much improvement over last season.