Huskies Overwhelm Women's Volleyball

Change is never easy, but it’s even more difficult in the middle of a season.

Trying out a new rotation in its final non-league match of the regular season, the Harvard women’s volleyball team initially found itself unable to maintain an offensive rhythm and eventually succumbed 3-0 (30-14, 30-19, 33-31) to the University of Connecticut last night at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Fairfield, Conn.

“It took us the first two games to feel comfortable with [the new rotation] and feel comfortable with where we were on the court,” co-captain Elizabeth Blotky said. “We were all trying to think of where everyone should be.”

Though the Crimson (3-9, 0-2 Ivy) regained its confidence and established its attack in the third frame, an ankle injury to sophomore middle hitter Suzie Trimble quelled Harvard’s momentum and allowed the Huskies (8-7, 1-2 Big East) to close out the contest.

“Suzie was blocking and she just came down weird,” Blotky said. “We were up —but we should have hung in there.”

After dropping the first two frames, the Crimson came out strong in game three after the two squads took a 10-minute break.

Rather than playing tentatively and being wary of the UConn blockers, Harvard attacked assertively, spiking kill after kill at a .341 clip.

Sophomore outside hitter Laura Mahon inspired the offense, posting 13 kills on the night.

“During the break, we were just like, look, this team isn’t doing anything special,” junior co-captain Sarah Cebron said. “We were giving them too much respect, and we just decided that we should have more confidence in ourselves.”

The Crimson’s change in mentality appeared to work, putting the Huskies on their heels. Harvard led for the majority of the frame and opened up its largest margin of the match when it moved ahead 24-18.

But a 9-3 run by UConn tied the score at 27, leaving the Huskies three points from victory. Though the Crimson picked up two game points at 29-27, UConn took six of the next eight points to complete its sweep, 33-31.

“We were still fighting, but we just couldn’t execute,” Cebron said. “We wanted it, but it wasn’t going our way.”

As the match began, Harvard had some difficulty adjusting to the new rotation.

With freshman Kathryn McKinley moving to libero, Blotky shifting to right back, and junior Jennifer Fountain sliding from the right side over to the outside—and with the team only having practiced the new formation once—the Crimson offense sputtered in the first two frames, hitting below .100.

The Huskies, on the other hand, seemed at ease in their home gym, hitting .375 and an amazing .536 en route to wins of 30-14 and 30-19, respectively.

“UConn is a pretty big team and it was a pretty big gym,” Blotky said. “I think everyone needs some more practice [in their new positions].”

Harvard will have three days to get adjusted to the new rotation. On Friday, the Crimson will travel to Philadelphia to take on Penn at the rowdy Palestra before facing Princeton on Saturday.

Despite its 0-2 league record and the injury to Trimble, Harvard is upbeat. The middle hitter might return for the weekend, and her presence could contribute to the success of the new formation.

“[The new rotation] is going to be more fluid once we get it down,” Cebron said. “I think it’s going to be really great for our team.”

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