W. Volleyball Slams Holy Cross, 3-0

The Harvard women's volleyball team regained its winning form last night with a convincing 3-0 victory over intrastate rival Holy Cross.

The Crimson (6-7) controlled the game from the outset, taking all three games from the Crusaders (3-13) by the count of 15-6, 15-5, 15-6.

"Basically we had fun," sophomore Erin Denniston said. "We haven't been having fun the past couple of games."

Denniston led the Crimson attack with 12 kills, while co-captain Kristen Schaeffer and sophomore Kira Whelan added nine and seven, respectively.

Whelan's play was a major factor in the Crimson's win over the Crusaders. In her biggest game of the season since moving up from the JV team, where she played last season, Whelan made an immediate impact with 10 digs, seven kills, and three assists on the night.

"It was awesome," Whelan said. "Everyone has been so supportive of me. It's made the transition to the team so much easier."

However, Whelan wasn't the only newcomer to the team to make an impact last night. Continuing in the footsteps of last year's rookies, this year's freshmen recruiting class continued to show its strong play.

"I think their great players," Schaeffer said, commenting on the freshmen. "Vanessa [Scott], Mindy [Jellin], and Liz [Cebron] just came in really strong and worked really hard throughout the pre-season, and they've stayed really enthusiastic since then."

Scott had a strong game on defense, leading the team with 18 digs and adding four assists in the final game.

"It was a great feeling," Scott said. "We've regained a lot of our confidence and our team is looking better every game."

Jellin, the other freshman setter, continued her strong play with 10 assists. She had her biggest game of the year last weekend when she tallied 47 assists and six digs in Harvard's loss to Stony Brook.

Along with junior Julie Yick--who had 15 assists and four digs in limited action against the Crusaders--Jellin has done an admirable job of filling the void left by graduating star Kate Nash '99 in the setter's position.

"Mindy has been playing great and has been doing a great job of setting this past week," Yick said.

Harvard starts the most important part of its season on Friday when it opens its Ivy League season against Cornell. The team's record against league opponents determines the seeding for the Ivy League Championships--to be held at Dartmouth in November--the winner of which gains the coveted birth to the NCAA Tournament.

"We had a very tough early schedule," Yick said. "And I think were better prepared than some of the other Ivy teams."

"I think one of the most important parts of our game is chemistry," Schaeffer said. "We graduated a lot of seniors, but the new lineup has really started to come together in the past couple of matches."

Harvard will play host to Cornell on Friday, and the team is excited to return to the friendly confines of the MAC after its long string of road games.

"Coming of this win we have a lot of momentum, and we're really looking forward to playing at home," Whelan said.