Women's Volleyball Travels to Yale, Brown in Pivotal Road Trip

­For a team that only lost two seniors to graduation, the Harvard women’s volleyball team (6-7, 2-1 Ivy) has had to suddenly rely on a lot of its underclassmen in the first few games of its Ivy League slate.

Back ailments led to the early retirement of senior middle blocker Jennifer Shults over the past offseason, forcing rookies such as Jocelyn Meyer to fill in the vacuum of space that were Shults’ 139 kills last season.

A high-ankle sprain also sidelined senior Kathleen Wallace for a few weeks before her return last week, thrusting the likes of freshmen Anna Uhr and Christina Cornelius into prominent roles in their rookie years.

But just as Wallace had recovered and things seemed to be looking up for the Crimson at the perfect time—with matchups against archrival Yale (8-4, 3-0) and Brown (8-6, 2-1) on the horizon—the squad was just dealt another blow that will alter the team’s course from hereon out.

Junior outside hitter Grace Weghorst has just been ruled out for the season to tend to a “stress fracture in my lower back as well as developing arthritis in [her] spine,” according to the Texas native herself.

The junior tried to cap her time early in the season to try to keep playing in some capacity, but even in limited action, the ailments began to be too much to continue on.

“A lot of time was spent with my trainers discussing my options,” Weghorst said. “I got a cortisone shot in my back but nothing worked. I’m just trying to take some time off to heal before next season.”

Now, the team heads into a critical matchup with perennial power Yale with a loss already on its record and without one of its two All-Ivy players from last season.

“Grace was one of those people who I could look at and really say ‘We need to win this, and I need your help,’ and she would get us the win,” junior Corie Bain said. “And she would get us a win.”

The team’s last memories of Yale came in the Malkin Athletic Center the night before The Game, losing both the game in straight-sets and a chance to go to play in the NCAA Tournament representing the Ivy League.

Despite two wins early in the season against its archrival, the third matchup saw Yale adjust to the Harvard attack and record ten more kills than its Crimson counterparts.

Now, a loss in this game all but ensures that the team will have to win out to have a chance to win a share of the Ivy League.

“That was a whole different team,” Bain said. “We don’t dwell on our past, even if it’s an amazing past like last season...It’s not relevant at this point.”

Yale did lose Ivy League Player of the Year Mollie Rogers to graduation this past offseason, but the Bulldogs have not missed a beat, starting off the conference slate on a three-game win streak.

Senior Kelly Johnson has averaged over 16 kills in the trio of Ivy League games thus far on the season.

Newcomer Kelley Wirth has burst onto the scene for the Bulldogs, averaging just under 13 kills per conference contest.

Despite Yale’s pedigree, however, the team isn’t intimidated.

“There’s nothing about Yale that scares me,” Bain said. “It’s more about the fact that they’re our rival institutionally that really inspires me to want to beat them.”

After an all-important conference game with Yale that would give Harvard control of its destiny going forward, the team will finish the weekend with a tilt against Brown.

Last year, Brown dealt Harvard one of its two losses in a straight-set loss the day after an emotional, five-set win over the Bulldogs.

The Bears have also got off to a hot start, its only conference loss having come at the hands of the Bulldogs.

Brown also boasts a highly-touted freshman in Sabrina Stillwell, who took home ECAC and Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after recording 32 kills in a five-set win over Columbia, only two kills away from tying the school record.

“I’m more anxious about playing Brown than I am Yale,” Bain said. “It’s harder for us to match up and know how to defend them.”

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.