Harvard Loses to Penn, Still Winless in Ivies

Different venue. Same result.

Three weeks after falling 3-0 to Penn at the Palestra, the Harvard women’s volleyball team was swept by the Quakers at home, losing 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-26) Saturday afternoon at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Despite the solid all-around play of outside hitters Laura Mahon and Kathryn McKinley, the Crimson (3-17, 0-10 Ivy) ran its winless streak to nine matches.

“I have a long-standing hatred of Penn,” co-captain Elizabeth Blotky said. “Everyone always gets fired up to play Penn, but this year, we just couldn’t get it done.”

In a contest featuring spectacular defensive plays and extended rallies, Harvard gave the Quakers (8-12, 5-4) some trouble but failed to win any games.

The Penn defense stonewalled the Crimson attack. Posting 10.5 team blocks and recording 87 digs, the Quakers held Harvard to a meager .098 hitting percentage.

“[Penn] had a really strong block,” Blotky said. “It was crippling our offense.”

On the other side of the net, McKinley turned in an astounding defensive effort, registering a team-high 20 digs to go along with nine kills.

“[McKinley] is a really hard worker and such a team player,” Blotky said. “She is very, very dedicated to Harvard volleyball, and that’s great as a freshman.”

Neither team could establish a comfortable advantage to open the match. In a frame that featured eight tie scores and six lead changes, the Quakers put forth a strong offensive effort but found themselves struggling to put a scrappy Crimson squad away.

Coming out of a Penn timeout with the scored tied at 20, Harvard took three of the next four points, including aces by Mahon and junior co-captain Sarah Cebron, to move ahead 23-21. But the Quakers went on a 9-1 run to go up 1-0 in the match.

“We did a lot of good things, but we have to continue to go forward and get better,” Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. “There are signs of brilliance, but we have to be consistent.”

In the second frame, Penn took the first two points and never relinquished its cushion. Though the Crimson came close to tying the score several times, the Quaker defense limited Harvard to a .078 hitting percentage en route to a 30-23 victory.

Feeding off its momentum, Penn took advantage of five Crimson errors to open up a 10-6 lead in game three. Despite making many runs, Harvard never cut the margin to less than three and eventually fell, 30-26.

Harvard will travels to Ithaca, N.Y., on Friday to face first-place Cornell before taking on perennial bottom-feeder Columbia.

“Cornell’s definitely the team to beat,” Blotky said. “It would be amazing to give them their first Ivy League loss.”

“We have nothing to lose,” Weiss added. “We’ve just got to bring it to them.”

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.