W. Volleyball Tunes Up for Ivy Tournament With Weekend Sweep

If only Ivy League competition were this easy.

The Harvard women's volleyball team crushed both of its opponents this weekend, steam-rolling Sacred Heart, 3-0 (15-6, 15-3, 15-13) on Friday, then obliterating Marist, 3-0 (15-2, 15-3, 15-3) on Saturday.

Both matches were useful for additional practice before the upcoming Ivy League tournament, in which the Crimson (14-12, 2-5 Ivy) will be the No. 7 seed.

By finishing with a 2-5 Ivy record, Harvard earned a battle with No.2 seed Pennsylvania (20-7, 5-2 Ivy) in the first round of the tournament this Friday.

Las t month, the Quakers and the Crimson squared off at the MAC, with Penn sweeping Harvard in three games (15-12, 15-11,15-13).

"We can't make any mistakes," said Harvard Coach Jennifer Weiss. "Even though [Sacred Heart and Marist] are not at Penn's level, our mental preparation should be the same every time we go out there."

Harvard 3, Marist 0

Although the Crimson had absolutely no problems handling the Red Foxes (1-22), the victory was bittersweet.

The win marked the last regular season home game for captains Sarah Mattson and Katherine Hart, as well as for senior outside hitter Angela Lutich.

"It's somewhat anticlimactic", Hart said. "This may have been our last regular season home game, but we know there is at least one more game to play."

During the match, Harvard overwhelmed Marist, who never managed to compete with Harvard.

In the first game, Harvard lost the first point when an attempted kill found the net. That was as close as Marist would get.

The Crimson ran off 14 straight points, overpowering Marist on offense and shutting it down on defense, and coasted to win the game, 15-2.

The second game was more of the same. Harvard trailed 1-2, before going on a 14-1 run to close out the game and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the final game, Marist was up 1-0 before losing control. The Crimson closed with a 15-2 run to sweep its second consecutive match.

Sophomore setter Mindy Jellin and Hart led the way for the Crimson, with Jellin repeatedly setting up Hart, who recorded 14 kills. Jellin finished with 29 assists.

"Everyone managed to play," Hart said. "We're obviously looking ahead and preparing for our next match."

Harvard 3, Sacred Heart 0

The Crimson began its weekend sweep on Friday against Sacred Heart. The match took a little over an hour and was dominated by Harvard from the beginning.

In the first game, the Crimson trailed 1-3, then woke up. Harvard ran off nine straight points to lead 10-3. Junior outside hitter Erin Denniston recorded various kills during the game, and the Crimson closed out the Pioneers, 15-6, to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the match.

In slight contrast to the first game, Harvard was in control from the outset of the second game. With Jellin directing Hart and Denniston to the attack, the Crimson ran away with the game, 15-3 after an initial 3-0 lead..

The third and final game was the closest of the weekend.

The game was tied at 4-4 and then Harvard ran off six straight points to lead 10-4. Both teams continued to battle and at one point, the Crimson was up 13-7. However, this time the Pioneers would not fold quite as easily.

Trying to avoid the sweep, Sacred Heart fought back to 13-13, appearing to be in the match for the first time all night.

Harvard, however, extinguished any Pioneer hopes of extending the match any further and finished off Sacred Heart, 15-13.

"We played well because everybody was confident," Weiss said. "Our mental preparation should be the same for every single match we play."

The Crimson will indeed be tested this upcoming weekend as it hosts the annual Ivy League tournament.

In order to reach the finals, Harvard would first have to defeat Penn, which had the best overall record out of all the Ivy teams, and then face either Cornell or Brown in the next round.

The Crimson lost a 3-2 match to Cornell three weeks ago, and lost a 3-1 match to Brown last week.

"We have faced tough competition the whole season," Hart said. "Now is the time to step it up."