Women's Volleyball Season Recap

When the Harvard women’s volleyball team commenced Ivy League play, it had some work to do. After a series of losses to non-conference opponents, the squad arrived in Hanover, N.H., for its first conference game on Sept. 21 with a 2-8 record.

While the Crimson fell to Dartmouth, it didn’t let a lack of momentum ruin its league season as it finished 7-7, its best record since 2009.

For the third consecutive year, the team looked to captain Taylor Docter, who led the team with 281 kills on the season. The outside hitter ended her career ranked seventh in Harvard history in kills.

“A lot of matches came down to the last couple of points,” Crimson coach Jen Weiss said. “Taylor Docter and [senior] Beth Kinsella were our senior leaders in that, and they did a great job putting us back up into the top tier, which was what the goal was.”

To close out the season, Docter and Kinsella both recorded double-doubles in their final match, a four-set win at Brown that gave Weiss her 100th Ivy League win.

Weiss, who is the winningest and longest-tenured coach in the program’s history, also earned her 250th career victory the previous weekend versus Cornell.

“It’s nice to play for someone who you trust,” sophomore outside hitter Kristen Casey said. “She’s very motherly and caring, and I think that’s something that’s unique about her.”

Weiss, who has now coached 21 seasons in Cambridge, was tasked with the job of converting the raw talent of four freshmen into a cohesive team unit. The women quickly adapted to the team and entered the rotation.

Outside hitter Kathleen Wallace was the runner-up in kills, as was setter Hannah Schmidt in assists. Middle blocker Caroline Holte set the pace in assists, while outside hitter Jennifer Shults reached a career high of eight kills twice.

“All four of the freshmen were in the lineup at some point,” Weiss said. “I think that they’re a very talented group of girls.... I’m excited for their careers as we move along. I think we had a good mix of freshmen and upperclassmen for this season, and the chemistry on the court was very good with that group.”

For the first time since 2009, the team had a road sweep of Cornell and Columbia on Oct. 12 and 13. The New York conference rivals pose a unique challenge because of the length and distance of the trip.

“[A season highlight was] the road trip to Cornell and Columbia,” Weiss said. “I don’t remember the last time we went 2-0 on that road trip. We beat Cornell on Friday, and then Columbia we did a fabulous job with on Saturday. It was a great match, and we beat them in three [sets].”

After the graduation of four-time All-Ivy player Christine Wu ’12 and classmate Sandra Lynne Fryhofer, both instrumental in defense at libero and middle blocker, respectively, Weiss had to adjust the defensive scheme to combat opponent attacks, utilizing Docter and junior right side hitter Erin Cooney to do so.

“We had a new blocking system that we did, a twin blocking system, and I thought that was very effective,” Weiss said. “We have some great jumpers.”

The team also faced the loss of sophomore Tara MacLean, who suffered a career-ending injury early in the season and will serve as manager next year yet still managed to finish with its strongest conference record in several seasons.

“I think we definitely did grow and learn over the season because by the end we really came together for Ivy competition,” Weiss said. “Because we did have an injury, we did have a player take a year off, we had to make some adjustments in the beginning, but we all came together at the end, and it worked out well.”

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.