Errors Cost Crimson Victory

Last weekend, the Harvard women’s volleyball team (10-8, 3-5 Ivy) proved that maintaining a strong game plan makes them hard to beat, as the squad knocked off former first-place Columbia at home. That lesson was further emphasized Saturday night, as the Crimson’s inconsistent passing and defense led to a 3-1 loss at Dartmouth (12-7, 4-4 Ivy).

Despite strong performances from sophomore setter Natalie Doyle and co-captain Christine Wu, both of whom notched double-doubles, Harvard could not stifle the Big Green’s strong performance, led offensively by senior Madeline Baird.

“When we are [playing] in our system, we move as a unit and we all trust each other,” Doyle said. “The effort was there, but the execution was not quite on par.”

Harvard arrived in Hanover after an unbalanced performance last weekend, when the team lost to last-place Cornell on Friday before overpowering the top-seeded Lions the next day. The Crimson was also hoping to avenge its 3-2 loss to Dartmouth at home last month.

“We seemed a little timid,” said co-captain Sandra Lynne Fryhofer, who had 11 kills in the match. “We didn’t have that aggression, that all-out pursuit that we normally see in both our offensive and defensive game.”

Harvard started off strongly, opening up an 11-7 lead over the Big Green in the first set. But, after several attack errors by the Crimson, Dartmouth fought back with a 7-1 run to take the lead and later rode a 4-0 run to close out the first set, 25-22.

The game was full of streaks from both teams, as leads were exchanged throughout. The Big Green would open up an 11-6 lead in the second set behind a strong offensive display from Baird. The senior struck six kills in the game.

But Doyle would go on to serve up 13 of her 44 assists for Harvard in the second set, as the Crimson went on a 9-2 run to reclaim the lead.

Despite the run, errors would bequeath the Big Green a two-point advantage that it would ride out to take the second game, 25-23.

After going down 2-0, Harvard looked to recover its game plan and execution that it had practiced all week.

“After the second game, we went into the locker room for our 10-minute break and got really pumped up,” Doyle said. “We talked about what we needed to do, and we went out and executed.”

The execution showed as Harvard stormed to an 11-5 lead in the third set, with sophomore middle blocker Teresa Skelly recording six of her 11 kills on the day.

Dartmouth would eventually fight back and close the gap to two points at 19-17, but Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss would call a well-timed timeout to stop the Big Green’s momentum. After the squad got back on the floor, Dartmouth would only score two more points, as Harvard took a 25-19 win to make the game, 2-1.

But despite the strong performance in the third set, the Crimson would not maintain the momentum. Like the previous sets, the team failed to execute the game plan and continued to make attack errors. Early in the fourth set, the Big Green generated a 5-0 run to take a dominant 8-3 lead.

“The third game was a fun one to watch because that was Harvard volleyball,” Doyle said. “But … in the fourth game, we had balls drop, we had miscommunications, and for some reason, the Harvard system was not there.”

That characterized the fourth set, as Dartmouth would add another 4-0 run late to take the set and the match, 25-15.

Harvard is going into this week of practice hoping to improve team communication and execution before hosting a pair of critical Ancient Eight games next weekend against Penn and Princeton.

“We are going to work on playing more as a unit, communicating more, and keeping up positive energy on court,” Fryhofer said. “We became too individual … We’re going to focus on our team, and how we can make each other better.”