Second-Day Split Salvages Tourney

The women’s volleyball team continued play in the Best Western Invitational on Saturday, squaring off against James Madison University and Georgia Southern University.

The Crimson (2-7) rounded out the Tampa tournament with split decisions.

Overall, Harvard went 1-3 in the Corral, winning five of its 16 sets. Additionally, junior Chelsea Ono Horn was named to the all-tournament team.

“[Chelsea] is a really strong player,” senior Kathryn McKinley said. “She blocks, hits, defends, picks up tips, and has a great jump serve. She’s an all around dynamo.”

The Crimson travels to Hanover, N.H. next weekend for the Dartmouth Invitational. Harvard will square off with the Big Green on Friday in the first game of Ivy League play.

“We’re really ready,” junior co-captain Lily Durwood said. “It’s a lot different playing Ivies. You recognize all the teams and different campuses you’ve played in before. It’s a lot easier to get excited to play Dartmouth than some random team on your preseason schedule.”

HARVARD 3, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 0

In the final game of the tournament, the Crimson reversed its previous fortunes, shutting out Georgia Southern 3-0.

“We were ready to win,” McKinley said. “We were sick of losing, especially in games that we were close to winning. We were hungry.”

Through the three sets, Harvard’s play was characterized by frequent offensive streaks and few errors. The Crimson’s 41 kills and .352 hitting percentage throughout the game made for a substantial victory over the Eagles, who posted only 27 kills and hit for .050. The two teams both put up five blocks.

Freshman Annie Ingersoll contributed another dazzling performance, nailing 12 kills and boasting a .786 hitting percentage. Ono Horn, adding on to her previous performance, put up seven kills and a .436 hitting percentage.

Creating an early lead in all three games, the Crimson never once fell behind Georgia Southern. The Eagles rallied strongly several times in the first and third sets and kept it close in the second, but momentum-killing performances from Ingersoll and McKinley kept them at bay.

Determined to keep its commanding leads, Harvard maintained its focus throughout the contest, winning the three sets 25-14, 25-16, 25-16.

As for the junior co-captains, Durwood dealt out 34 assists and three digs and Katherine Kocurek supplied another 11 digs.

JAMES MADISON 3, HARVARD 1

Played fittingly at high noon, the Crimson’s first match of the day placed it against the James Madison Dukes in the Corral.

The Crimson found its rhythm slightly earlier than in Friday’s games, winning the second set and nearly taking the third.

Although the record followed suit with the previous day’s losses, the scores suggest that the women’s squad upped its aggressiveness. Harvard never lost by more than six.

The first set also proved to be characteristic: the Crimson altered between allowing offensive runs and then hacking away at the deficit. Towards the end of the set, freshman Sandra Fryhofer nailed a kill—one of her career-high 10 in the game—to help bring the Crimson to within one point of its opponent, 18-17. Soon after, though, the Dukes pulled away on a 7-1 run to win the set 25-18.

“Volleyball is a streak game,” Durwood said. “Points go by really quickly without you really noticing it. We work on trying to side out quickly in practice so that we don’t get stuck in a certain rotation. It’s tricky for any team to prevent runs like that.”

Closer play and numerous lead changes followed in the second game. The deciding performance came from Ono Horn, who laid down the final three Crimson kills and prevented the James Madison comeback.

Harvard did not fare as well in the third or fourth games, falling behind early in both. Despite late offensive contributions from McKinley and Fryhoffer in the third, the Crimson could not convert its continued efforts into another win and fell to the Dukes 25-21. In the fourth, Harvard could not compete with James Madison’s overpowering attack and lost 25-19.

—Staff writer Emmett Kistler can be reached at ekistler@fas.harvard.edu.