W. Spikers Place Third In UConn Tournament

The Harvard women's volleyball team rebounded from last Tuesday's big loss against Williams College, tying for third place this weekend at the six-team Jayfro Husky Volleyball Tournament hosted by the University of Central Connecticut.

Friday, the Crimson saw action against both the Huskies and the University of Central Connecticut. In the first match. Harvard (3-5) beat UConn in four sets, 8-15, 15-13, 16-14, 15-8. The Crimson completed the sweep with a three-set victory over Central Connecticut, 15-10, 15-9, 15-11.

Saturday, Harvard played Hartford University for a shot at the semifinal match, but lost in straight sets, 15-2, 15-4, 16-14.

Pack Up

Coach Wayne Lem was about to pack up and head for home at that point, but he and his team stuck around to watch a set or two of the last match before the semifinals. As it turns out, they were very glad they did.

Colgate played Central Connecticut, which up until that point in the tournament had not even won a set. If Colgate had swept Central Connecticut as expected, the Red Raiders would have advanced to the semifinals. Colgate did win the match, but not in straight sets. Since both Harvard and Colgate finished with a 2-1 tournament records, the last semifinal berth was determined according number of sets won and lost.

The Crimson had a 6-4 set record. The Red Raiders finished at 6-5.

That meant Colgate was out, and Harvard was in. Lem quickly prepared his team for an unexpected fourth match against a very tough Fairleigh Dickinson team.

The Crimson fought, but lost to FDU in four sets. 15-9, 15-7, 7-15, 15-8. The tournament was now officially over for Harvard.

Fairleigh Dickinson beat the Huskies in the finals later that day to win the tournament.

In all four games this weekend. The Crimson showed improvement from last week's games. The passing and hitting were much better than they have been in the past.

"The tournament was a good experience for us," said Crimson forward Peri Wallace. "Even the worst team there, Central Connecticut, ran an excellent quick hit offense that gave a lot of the teams trouble. To play against that kind of competition can only be good for us."

Lem and his team hope to keep the ball rolling tomorrow as they play host to Lowell College at 7 p.m. in the Malkin Athletic Center.