W. Volleyball Slips To Third In Final Standings

After falling from the top of the Ivy ladder, the Harvard women’s volleyball team couldn’t regain its footing as it lost its final match at Columbia on Saturday.

After a 3-0 loss to Penn last weekend, the Crimson’s sole chance of winning the Ivies hinged on sweeping its matches against Cornell and Columbia and on the Quakers losing two of their final three matches. Penn beat Brown and Yale this weekend to clinch its second consecutive Ivy title.

The Crimson (14-11, 10-4 Ivy) managed a 3-1 win over Cornell (14-12, 6-8) on Friday, but the team’s rebound skidded to a halt when the Lions (10-17, 3-11) won a 3-0 match (30-25, 30-20, 30-23) the following day.

“We were really disappointed to be pretty much out of the running for first place, so when it became apparent that we weren’t going to win the league, we got a little relaxed,” said captain and setter Mindy Jellin.

Harvard’s relaxation translated into a struggle to maintain its usual fast pace.

“We weren’t focused on winning that game,” said sophomore middle hitter Kaego Ogbechie. “We felt that we may have been done with the season the day before.”

Columbia 3, Harvard 0

Throughout the season, the Crimson focused on playing as a team and became well-known for its excellent team dynamic. Against the Lions, however, even Harvard’s proficiency at working together unraveled as the team’s attempts to shake up its game failed.

“Individually, we were having trouble getting the ball on the other side of the net,” Ogbechie said. “Hitting-wise, we were making several errors that we don’t usually make. On defense, we were losing focus on getting to our position—ultimately, that makes you lose focus as a team.”

Columbia outside hitter Madia Willis was part of the problem, as she tallied a match-high 22 kills with a stunning .571 attack percentage.

For the Crimson, Ogbechie registered a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs while Jellin contributed a match-high 33 assists. However, the outcome of Jellin’s final game tainted her thoughts on her personal performance.

“I think it was hard for any of us to be pleased—as a team we were playing so badly,” Jellin said. “It was hard for anyone to shine. I tried not to think too much about the loss that we just had. I tried to think about all the good things that happened in my career.”

Harvard 3, Cornell 1

Though the Crimson’s hopes of an Ivy crown had been humbled, Harvard entered the weekend well aware that it was still in the race.

“We talked about the fact that there was a chance for us to still win Ivies,” Jellin said. “Our mentality was that we were still in it—but I just don’t think that our actions did what we decided we were going to do.”

Though the plan came undone at Columbia, the Crimson opened the weekend with a 3-1 win (30-24, 28-30, 30-27, 30-24) over the Big Red.

After winning the first game, Harvard’s defense struggled with digging out hits to the middle back while the offense had trouble finding the holes in Cornell’s defense. But the Crimson adjusted for the third and fourth games.

“We rotated our defense around and switched things up,” Jellin said. “We matched up our defense with the way they were hitting.”

Harvard had trouble establishing the block with two people up, an aspect of the game that the team had been practicing. The second game served as a reminder of that practice, and the Crimson settled in for the win, taking full advantage of every slip the Big Red made.

Harvard also benefitted from a diverse offense. Jellin distributed 45 assists to a variety of Crimson players. Ogbechie (18 kills), junior Allison Bendush (12), sophomore Pernilla Schweizer (11) and junior Mariah Pospisil (10) all posted two-digit kill totals.

—Staff writer Jessica T. Lee can be reached at lee45@fas.harvard.edu.