Women's Volleyball Remains in Second in Ivy League

The Harvard women’s volleyball team entered this weekend’s roadtrip tied for second with Brown in the Ivy League and looked to continue its conference win streak against Penn and Princeton. The team leaves the weekend having solidified its number two spot in the conference trailing Yale, who is undefeated in the Ancient Eight.

The Crimson was able to come away with two victories, with a 3-1 match win over the Quakers Friday night at the Palestra and a 3-0 defeat of the Tigers on Saturday at Dillon Gymnasium.

HARVARD 3, PRINCETON 0

In a dominant performance by Harvard (10-6, 5-2 Ivy), the Crimson was able to close out its roadtrip undefeated and remain near the top of the Ivy League standings with its 3-0 blanking of Princeton (6-11, 2-5).

As has been the trend lately, freshmen Corinne Bain and Grace Weghorst showed that age is simply a number when it comes to talent on the court. For the second night in a row Bain recorded a triple-double with 10 kills, 22 assists, and 10 digs. Weghorst added eight kills, just ahead of senior right side hitter Erin Cooney and sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Wallace who each had seven kills.

It was those powerful hitters that allowed Harvard to start the night out victorious and win the first set 29-27, propelling the team toward its ultimate victory. Tied 27-27, sophomore Hannah Schmidt set Bain up completed one of her 10 kills to put the Crimson up 28-27. An attack error by the Tigers sealed the Harvard victory.

From that point on the Crimson only trailed the Tigers once, during a 1-2 deficit at the beginning of the second set.

“It was a great win for us not only because we won all three games but also because it was on the road and very important for our Ivy League rankings,” Bain said.

The Tigers attack was led by junior middle blocker Tiana Woolridge who had 10 kills, followed by sophomore middle blocker Kendall Peterkin who notched 9 kills, and freshman outside hitter Cara Mattaliano who contributed 8 kills.

HARVARD 3, PENN 1

After starting the match out with a 28-26 battle that saw the Crimson take the first set, Harvard was able to put the Quakers (9-9, 3-4 Ivy) away in four frames.

Bain and Weghorst each had a strong game again for the Crimson. Weghorst led the team with 15 kills on the night, while Bain added 10 of her own. Bain also had 22 assists and added four service aces in the win. Wallace and junior Caroline Walters also contributed nine kills each throughout the contest.

“Everyone was doing their job; we had a ton of digs and an equal amount of great sets,” Weghorst said. “They gave me the ball whenever they could and whenever it was smart to do so and I was able to put it away when I could.”

The game started out slow for the Crimson, who had four hitting errors in a row which allowed Penn to go ahead 11-8 in the first set, but the team was able to rally back after a timeout to win the set 28-26. A kill from Wallace solidified Harvard’s victory in the first set.

“That probably was our motivation [to keep playing strong],” Weghorst said. “We knew that we were able to rally and come back from a bit of a deficit so we were able to come together and use that as our motivation to play as hard as we can and win the next game.”

Although Harvard dropped the third frame after Penn closed the set on a seven-point run, the Crimson was able to bounce back and take the fourth set, 25-21. Harvard opened the set with a 4-0 run and did not look back from then on, not allowing a single lead change through the final stana.

“It was a great match, I think we came out with a lot of enthusiasm and energy because we knew that we needed to take care of business on the road,” Bain said. “We’re really proud of how we were able to bounce back from our last road trip and get the win this week.”

The victories allowed Harvard to be the sole holder of second place in the Ivy League, with Brown splitting their weekend play against Columbia and Cornell. Only the undefeated Bulldogs of New Haven stand in the way of the Crimson’s first Ivy League Championship since 2004.

“This win feels really good,” Bain said. “It is really essential for our team’s confidence going into the second half of Ivy League play.”