Women's Volleyball Crushes Holy Cross, 3-0

If only Harvard could play non-league opponents every match.

Since starting Ivy League play in early October, the Harvard women's volleyball team has garnered only a 2-5 league record while going 3-0 against other opponents.

Yesterday evening at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Crimson (12-12, 2-5 Ivy) appeared unstoppable as it cruised to a 15-4, 15-6, 15-2 victory over Holy Cross (11-15) in a match that took less than an hour.

In what had become an unshakable pattern in this up-and-down season, Harvard again came out of its slump against Ivy League teams--in this case tough losses at Yale and Brown--by throttling a non-league opponent.

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, they were the next team on the schedule. Having lost to the Crimson, 3-0 earlier in the season, Holy Cross fared little better in the rematch.

Early on in the first game, Harvard quickly ran away with an 11-2 lead before the Crusaders called a timeout to try and ice the fiery Crimson offense.

It didn't work. Nailing three straight points, Harvard got to game point with a kill from the outside. After Holy Cross sided out and aced a serve to pull to 14-4, senior outside hitter Angela Lutich sided out with a kill. Sophomore setter Mindy Jellin quickly closed the deal with a tricky dump to midcourt.

"[Jellin] was wonderful on offense and [freshman blocker] Lauren [Gallagher] was effective at blocking," Harvard Coach Jennifer Weiss said.

The Crimson wasn't any more lenient in the second game. Harvard started out with a 8-0 run that featured senior middle hitter and captain Katherine Hart sailing over the Crusaders' block several times for the kill.

Holy Cross managed the next two points, pulling to 8-2, but was stifled by the Crimson defense. Junior outside hitter Erin Denniston was a force on the net while sophomore outside hitter Nicole Meunier and senior outside hitter and captain Sarah Mattson contributed some timely digs.

With such defense and powerful play from the opposite by Gallagher, Harvard never let up and took the game, 15-6.

Weiss acknowledged that Harvard kept the pressure on Holy Cross to get some points.

"We were serving deep," Weiss said. "We kept the ball out of the hands of their good middle blocker [sophomore Carissa Bennet]...their ball control just wasn't there."

Holy Cross's ineffectiveness was especially evident in the third game. After working the opening minutes to a promising 2-2 tie, the Crusaders promptly lost their momentum as Harvard rumbled to a 14-2 lead. Several plays later, the Crimson won the match on a block by Meunier.

The entire roster contributed to the Crimson's dominating victory. On offense, nine players recorded kills and four had five or more. Hart led the team with eight. At the helm of these performances, Jellin recorded 31 assists.

Defensively the entire team contributed as well. At the net, the Crimson managed 12 team blocks. On the floor, eight players made digs with Jellin and Meunier leading with 10 apiece.

Hopefully, such a performance extends to the Ivy League Championships, which Harvard hosts next weekend.

"We played well," Weiss said. "We have momentum with lots of new faces, we're getting more comfortable and we know we can win. We want to win the tournament, especially since it's the last one and since we're hosting."

Such a feat will not be easy. Because of its poor play during the season, the Crimson will, as the seventh seed, open against No.2 Penn, whom they lost to, 0-3, in early October.

"[Against Holy Cross] we executed against a team not as strong as the Ivy teams," Weiss said. "They'll be better on blocks and will have more speed."

Yet, in a league marked by parity - Harvard barely lost to Princeton and Cornell, the No. 1 and 3 seeds, respectively, the Crimson definitely has a fighting chance. Hopefully, though, the team will forget that it is playing Ivy teams and will show its devastating half.