Harvard Falls to Princeton, Extends Losing Streak

Murphy’s Law states that what ever can go wrong will go wrong.

For the Harvard women’s volleyball team that is exactly how this season appeared to be going.

Coming into Friday’s matchup against Princeton, the Crimson was 0-8 in the Ivy League, 3-15 overall.

Despite pushing the Tigers (14-6, 5-4 Ivy) to extra points in the second frame and winning the third game, Harvard was unable to pull out the victory, losing 3-1 (30-15, 31-29, 32-34, 30-26) at the Malkin Athletic Center.

With another loss tacked on to the Crimson’s record, things looked grim to the casual observer.Harvard continues to push forward, however, taking the positives out of Friday’s defeat.

“I’m really proud of our team for [winning] that third game,” co-captain libero Elizabeth Blotky said. “We’ve been working hard at pulling games out this season. Despite the loss, I think we showed a lot of improvement in terms of just being able to finish a game.”

In a nail-biter of a frame in which the Crimson had four game points before sealing the deal, Harvard showed a glimpse of what the team can really do.

After freshman outside hitter Kathryn McKinley’s second kill of the frame put the team up 3-2, the Crimson never trailed again on its way to a 34-32 victory.

Harvard had 24 kills on .333 hitting, nine of which came from sophomore Laura Mahon. The outside hitter finished with 22 kills on .354 hitting.

“Laura Mahon had a great match,” Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. “That’s the Laura Mahon we know and love, that’s how she plays the game. [All the players] were confident, but she was in her game.”

In the second game, the team also showed some fight.

Beginning the frame down 1-6, the Crimson battled its way back throughout the game. Jump serving effectively, Mahon served eight straight points to give the team a 26-25 lead.

After Harvard fell behind 29-28, a huge block from sophomores Mimi Hanley and Suzie Trimble tied it up at 29.

But the Crimson fell just short of victory, as the Tigers pulled away with a 31-29 win.

The second game was a welcome shift from the first in which Princeton dominated the struggling Crimson.

“The first game was a bit of a disaster,” Blotky said. “Our main issue was that Princeton was controlling the momentum and controlling the pace of the game, and I think it took us a full game to warm up and get the momentum on our side.”

Opening the game ahead 1-0, Harvard found itself quickly down 13-5. The Crimson would never retake the lead as it was all Tigers on their way to a 30-15 victory.

In the fourth frame, Princeton jumped out to a quick 4-0 cushion as a result of two Harvard attack errors. But the Crimson battled back, incorporating a variety of slides and quick sets as well as tipping to open areas and hitting down the line.

“This week in practice we worked a lot on our shots, working on how to diversify, giving our hitters more options if they’re up against a big block instead of just hitting straight on,” Blotky said. “Our hitters did a great job today of working that into the game after the first game.”

But Harvard’s efforts were insufficient, as Princeton closed out the game 30-26.

Despite remaining winless in the Ivy League with five games left, Coach Weiss continues to be optimistic.

“[The players] have to maintain their aggressiveness,” she said. “They know that, and they just have to play to win and not be afraid.

“That’s the mentality, that’s been the mentality all week in practice; it’s just go, go after it. We’ve got nothing to lose.”