Women's Volleyball Drops Five-Setter Against New Hampshire

Last year when the Harvard women’s volleyball team and the University of New Hampshire met on the court, the Wildcats took a close game in five sets, 3-2.

Tuesday night at the Malkin Athletic Center, history repeated itself with New Hampshire taking the game once again in a back-and-forth contest that stretched into five sets.

On paper, it should appear that the Crimson would have emerged victorious from the contest. Harvard (5-4) had more kills, digs, assists, blocks and attacks than the Wildcats (6-10) along with a higher attacking percentage and fewer attacking errors, yet could not pull off the win, losing the final set of the match, 15-13.

Tuesday night’s match was the third five-set contest that the Crimson has played this season, but it was the first time that the squad dropped a five-setter.

“I think tonight was not one of the bright spots in our preseason,” junior co-captain Kristen Casey said. “This is, in a way, a gift because we can reevaluate our team goals and make sure we’re sticking together…. No one’s going to go through the preseason without challenges.”

Both teams remained competitive throughout the entire five sets of the game. No team held a lead of more than five points all night and each game had at least four lead changes, with the first set ending in a 26-24 Crimson win.

For New Hampshire, senior right side hitter Morgan Thatcher was the lead scorer of the game with 15 kills and eight blocks, followed closely by sophomore outside hitter Tori Forrest who had 14 kills. The duo was effective throughout the contest and kept the Harvard defense on its heels.Junior setter Taylor Dunklau contributed the most assists to the game, aiding in 51 of the Wildcats 58 kills.

Key contributors in the game for Harvard were sophomores Caroline Holte and Jennifer Shults, who each had 12 kills on the night. Freshman setter Corinne Bain continues to lead the team in assists with a career-best 42 and added five out of the team’s six service aces of the game. Holte and Shults have been offensive forces for the Crimson all sesaon, with team-high totals of 57 and 56 kills, respectively.

Junior Sindhu Vegesena started the game as libero in place of co-captain Natalie Doyle and led the team with 25 digs, the most for any player on the court.

“We just want to make sure we’re a team that can win in close games,” Casey said. “We don’t want to come off on the losing end of close games. It’s easy to win if you’re up, 15-5, but when it’s 18-18 or 19-19, those are the times when we really want to know what we’re going to do to make sure we come out on top.”

In the game’s first set, the Crimson squeezed out a win by a score of 26-24. The game saw the teams tied at 14 before Harvard went onto a 22-20 lead. The Wildcats came back to tie the set at 22, then at 24, before the Crimson sealed off the victory with a kill by Bain.

But New Hampshire rallied back in the second frame with a 25-22 victory. The set started with an ace by the Wildcats, who continued to lead the set until Harvard’s timeout at 15-11. Coming out of the timeout, New Hampshire junior Sam Henke missed a serve that led to a 5-0 run by the Crimson squad, which rallied and eventually took a 17-16 lead. Despite the thin lead, the Wildcats pushed through to edge Harvard.

The third set started with one of Bain’s five aces of the night. The score was back and forth the entire game, seeing the lead change 10 times, along with five ties. Later in the set, Bain’s serving came in clutch once again, as she went on a 7-0 service run to bring the Crimson to match point. Although New Hampshire came back with two points to bring the score to 24-22, Harvard was able to come up with a kill to win the set.

But once again, the Wildcats were able to come back from a set loss to tie the game at two sets apiece. Staying true to the night’s theme of lead changes, the fourth set of the match had another 10. New Hampshire stayed on top for the latter part of the set and was able to close Harvard out and send the game to a decisive fifth set with a 4-1 run.

In an intense final stanza that included a tie at 12, the Wildcats claimed the match on a kill by Thatcher, sending the Crimson home with a heartbreaking 15-13 loss.

“We need to make little adjustments in order to be competitive in tough games,” Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. “Tightening up and smoothing out the little things will make us a better team…one that can be competitive in the future.”