W. Volleyball Digs In, Beats Scrappy Eagles

CHESTNUT HILL—The Harvard women’s volleyball shook up its lineup and the B.C. Eagles’ composure simultaneously last night, resulting in a convincing 3-1 win.

Harvard (2-6, 0-0 Ivy) lost a key player when sophomore outside hitter Pernilla Schweitzer suffered a shoulder injury in warm-ups, yet the Crimson remained undettered.

“We made it a team effort tonight,” captain Mindy Jellin said of the adjusted lineup. “We all relied on and trusted each other.”

The fourth and final game of the match tested this cohesion.

Harvard leapt out to a 8-1 lead behind the offense of junior Nathalie Miller.

Moving from her normal defensive position of libero to outside hitter, Miller’s timely play produced a number of key kills during the run.

B.C. managed to come back to tie the game at 16-16 and forced a seesaw battle through the next few points. The game remained tight until the Crimson went on a 3-0 run to build a 29-26 lead.

Victory was within a single spike, yet the Eagles proved fiesty again, battling back to tie the score at 29-29.

Harvard finally put the game—and match—away with bloop shot by sophomore Kaego Ogbechie and a missed spike attempt by B.C.

A large group of high school girls’ volleyball players cheered wildly for the victorious Crimson.

Despite Boston College’s resilience, the Crimson remained confident.

“I never doubted we would win,” Miller said.

Harvard showed a high level of energy and enthusiasm right from the start. Behind the power of Ogbechie and court leadership of setter Jellin, the Crimson eeked out a 31-29 win in Game 1.

Ogbechie set the tone with a number of athletic spikes and thundering blocks at the onset of the match. She ended with a team-leading 14 kills.

“Having confidence to win was key tonight,” said Ogbechie. “Our coaches talked about pounding away at the other team and taking care of the ball.”

Ogbechie was assisted on many a play by Jellin, who recorded 46 sets.

“Mandy is a great leader right now,” said Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss. “She’s really composed and has a good demeanor.”

The Crimson has been looking to concentrate on defense throughout the pre-Ivy League schedule.

“Our goal is to be the best defensive team in the league,” said Ogbechie.

Ogbechie and fellow sophomore Ashley Atkins led the team with 14 defensive digs each. Junior outside hitter Allison Bendush added 13 digs.

“The strategy is simply to just let nothing hit the ground,” Ogbechie said.

Harvard struggled both offensively and defensively in Game 2, losing 30-21.

But responding with vigor in Game 3, Harvard’s hard-nosed defense was most evident late in the game.

With a tight score of 21-20, Harvard’s blockers caused B.C. to commit a number of unforced errors to pull away for a 30-25 victory.

“We knew we needed to come out and play our defense and then it would all come together,” Ogbechie said.

Coming off tonight’s win, the Crimson looks forward to Friday’s Ivy League opener at Dartmouth.

“The Dartmouth game is always an emotional and heated battle,” Weiss said.