W. Volleyball Knocks Off Quinnipiac in Four Games

Coming off last week's disappointing loss to Penn, the aging Malkin Athletic Center never looked better to the Harvard women's volleyball team.

The Crimson has yet to lose on its home court, and Quinnipiac had to expect a tough match.

However, nothing could prepare the Braves for the dominant attack from the Ivy-leading Crimson as Harvard (11-9, 3-1 Ivy) took the first two games each by a 15-5 score, and held on to beat the Braves (4-10) three games to one.

"It was a great match. Both teams played well," said Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss, despite her team's large margin of victory.

Harvard was led by Ivy League Player of the Week, sophomore outside hitter Erin Denniston, who had 13 kills and 9 digs for the Crimson. Junior middle hitter Katherine Hart had another superb game as well, recording 10 kills and 12 digs.

In the first game, Harvard jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead. Quinnipiac tried to organize itself with a timeout, but was unable to stop the subsequent Crimson attack led by Hart and freshman outside hitter Liz Cebron.

After another timeout with the score at 11-5, Harvard scored four points in a row off the serve of senior defensive setter Kristen Priscella, to win the first game.

In the second game, the Braves seemed to have turned things around, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead, but then co-captains Linda Jellison and Kristen Schaeffer combined to block the next Quinnipiac attack.

"Our captains always play well for us," Weiss said.

The Crimson was in control from then on. Quinnipiac seemed to have serious difficulty getting the ball over the net. The Harvard defense left the Braves flashing disappointed looks at each other and passing out empty high fives. After only a half hour of play, Harvard was up 2-0 for the match.

The Crimson looked to finish off the Braves quickly, going up 4-2 in the third game. However for the rest of game three, Quinnipiac played superbly while Harvard started to slide, considerably. The Braves racked up a .320 hitting percentage in the third game, after having more errors than kills in each of the first two games.

"[Quinnipiac] played with a much slower pace, not quite as fast as we were used to," Weiss said. "They forced us to put forth extra effort, to get the simple things right."

Harvard made as many errors in the third game as they did in the first two combined.

"We just didn't pass, so we had no ball control," said Weiss.

Harvard only scored one more point for the entire third game, as Quinnipiac won 15-5.

In the fourth game, it looked as if Quinnipiac might be able to make things difficult for the Crimson, again going up 2-0 early.

But then Harvard came back.

The Crimson bench, which had been silent for much of the third game, sprang to life as Harvard went on to score the next eight points to take an 8-2 lead.

However, Quinnipiac refused to lay down and die. After a Harvard side out, the Braves scored five points in a row, cutting the lead to 8-7.

But freshman setter Mindy Jellin (25 assists) finally stopped the bleeding for the Crimson. On the next Quinnipiac serve, she tapped the ball into a foot-wide open space, with no Braves players anywhere near, to end the threat.

"Mindy's doing great," said Weiss. "As a freshman, she's been able to step in and run our offense."

After Harvard went up 9-7, Quinnipiac came back to tie the score 9-9. From then on, however, the Crimson kept the Braves scoreless.

"In the last game, we really started to pick it up and play together as a team instead of as individuals," said Jellin.

Frequent serving errors kept Quinnipiac from making any kind of comeback. A solid block by Schaeffer and another sneak kill by Jellin highlighted the Crimson's final rush. Jellin served for the last three points, as Harvard went on to win the final game 15-9.

"Good serving, passing, and defense, that's what got us there," Jellin said.

The win against the Braves should prove to be a good preparation for Saturday, when the Crimson resumes its Ivy League schedule against Dartmouth.

The Ivy League is as tight as ever this season, with Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and Brown all locked together at the top with 3-1 records.

"This weekend will be big. Yale and Brown are playing each other, one of them has to lose," Weiss said.

If Harvard can continue to play as well as it did in the first two games against Quinnipiac, its Ivy League opponents had better watch out.