Women's Volleyball Evens the Score

The Harvard women's volleyball team showed last night that it is ready to fight for its place among the top teams in the Ivy League.

The Crimson team handed a 3-1 loss to Providence, 10-15, 15-4, 15-11, 15-11, making up for its loss to the Friars earlier this season.

Riding a three game win streak, the Crimson (11-10, 3-3 Ivy) rolled into last night's match looking for revenge against Providence (16-10). Harvard was also looking for a season-high fourth consecutive win.

"We were definitely looking for a win," senior outside hitter Angela Lutich said. "Considering Providence beat us early on in the season, we were thinking of this game as a test of how far we've come."

The Crimson got off to a rough start as the acrobatic Friars mounted a 12-6 lead in the first game. Harvard fought back, bringing it to 12-10.

However, at 13-10, Lutich uncharacteristically missed a key spike. Providence used the miss to its advantage, taking the point and later the game, 15-10.

But after the first game, Harvard took control.

The Crimson came back with a vengeance, dominating the second game. Harvard held the Friars to only four points, taking the game 15-4.

The next two games proved to be more of a challenge for the Crimson. However, Harvard's solid outside play and determined inside effort kept the Friars at heel.

Tightly contested, the third game was competitively fought until the end. With both teams tied at 11, the Crimson maintained its focus and overtook Providence with a string of four straight points, clinching the third game, 15-11.

Learning its lesson from the third game, Harvard got out to an early lead over the Friars in the fourth game. Providence then took the game back, tying the game at 10.

Just as the match looked like it had the potential of going another game, the Crimson quickly finished off the Friars. Harvard took the fourth game, 15-11, knocking off Providence and accumulating some impressive statistics for the match.

Crimson sophomore setter Mindy Jellin, one of the league's top players, managed 51 set assists and 20 digs.

Classmate Liz Cebron capitalized on her court-time with five service aces and eight digs.

Senior captain Katherine Hart, named Ivy League Player of the Week for her solid hitting against Quinnipiac and Dartmouth last week, managed 13 kills and 12 defensive digs against the Friars last night.

Standout Angela Lutich kept up with the outstanding play that's defined her season so far, assisting on 37 kills and recording 17 digs.

"It was an all-around good game," said Lutich. "We played really solid against a very good defensive team."

The midweek work against non-conference teams like Providence will prepare the Crimson for play later in the season, when more is at stake.

Providence, like Dartmouth and Princeton, relies on its outside game.

"It was good to play a good defensive team," Lutich said. "We kept sending it back, we controlled our errors and let them make their mistakes."

Harvard played with a successful strategy, but the Crimson will need to step up its play if it hopes to find similar results with its remaining Ivy opponents and then later at the Ivy Championship Tournament.

With only two league matches left before the end of the regular season, the Crimson needs to break into the top tier of the Ivy pack. Trying to break through from the bottom four to the top four teams would guarantee a choice seed in the Ivy Tournament

Being seeded in the top four would make the road to the semi-finals and to the league championship that much smoother for the Crimson.

First, Harvard will have to face Yale and Brown this Friday and Saturday.

Both opponents are hovering at the bottom of the Ivy League standings, and they could potentially give the Crimson an opportunity to rack up another two wins this weekend.