Harvard Women’s Volleyball Defeated in Opening Home Games

Harvard women’s volleyball lost its first two home games of the season this past weekend against Washington State University and Seton Hall University, setting the team’s season off to a challenging start in the past two weeks.

Following a series of three losses in Florida last weekend, Harvard came home with passion and optimism for victory.

Though losing in three to Washington State, Harvard battled out every individual set to a close ending — but was ultimately unable to deliver the same gusto their opponents had in the end.

While Harvard seemed to have found a better footing in its matchup against Seton Hall the next day, the team was ultimately unable to close out on the last set in a nail-biting battle that left the Crimson’s record 0-5.

Harvard will head to Boston College for the Eagle Classic next weekend, facing off in a series of three games against Boston College, Bryant University, and Stonehill College. There, the team will have the chance to turn its record around and improve its ability to close a set.

Harvard 0, Washington State 3

The Crimson set itself up well early in its game against Washington State, taking a fast lead off of two opponent errors. Harvard’s athletes came in with energy — matched by that of the Malkin Athletic Center’s packed Friday-night crowd — and displayed their enthusiasm from the court and the bench.

Junior outside hitter Ali Furquhar, a significant player on Harvard’s team, showed her skill early in the game with a swift kill in the right corner of the Cougars’ court to keep Harvard in the lead.

But the first set was not a clear victory for Harvard. Washington State played a bigger game than Harvard, with better kills overall, but gave the Crimson a number of points from their errors. Still, as the Cougars eventually caught up and the teams went point-for-point, the Crimson was unable to finish things off as the Cougars took the first set 26-24.

Set two was nothing if not a fight between two equally matched teams. While Harvard took an early lead again and kept it throughout most of the set, Washington State was close behind the entire time. As the two teams began tying back and forth and the scores reached 25, the set appeared far from over.

Though Harvard pulled out a number of stellar kills — including multiple from freshman outside hitter Sophia Rossi — the Cougars placed a kill right behind Harvard’s players that set the trajectory for their high-scoring victory at 29-31.

Harvard faced issues with gaps in its blocks, giving up a number of kills to Washington State throughout the game.

But especially in the second and third set, Harvard began driving more power into its play and playing bigger than before. The team’s blocking game improved significantly, with a solid solo block from sophomore middle blocker Bennett Trubey that tied things at 8-8.

Harvard did not once stop battling, but a series of errors late in the game gave Washington State a four-point run that decided the set. At 22-25, Harvard lost the match to the Cougars after a valiant effort.

Harvard 2, Seton Hall 3

Freshman setter Sophia Wei used her knuckling serve to confound Seton Hall to start the match. The Pirates found their footing quickly and attacked the deep middle of the Crimson defense to take the lead early in the first set.

Both teams' blocks proved effective throughout the set. These effective blocks led to some direct rejections for points but, more impactfully, played a role in the elevated number of attack errors and forced outside hitters to take riskier angles and rely on offspeed shots more often.

Following a massive block by the Seton Hall wall that stretched their lead to 22-20, the teams battled in the point of the set. In the marathon point, both teams survived multiple blocks and made diving saves. The Pirates ultimately won the point off of a block.

Harvard made a push to knot the set back up at 23, but, as has become a theme this season, the Crimson came up just short and lost the set 23-25.

Seton Hall started off hot in the second set commanding a big lead. Bedlam occurred midway through the set when a massive spike careened off of Harvard and skied into the netting above the court. This allowed the Crimson to recover and return an otherwise unreturnable ball and claim the point. After a lengthy review, the point was overturned and awarded to the Pirates.

The second set was all Seton Hall from the start. The Pirates claimed a seven point lead early on behind domination in the middle. Harvard responded by cutting the lead back down to three but could never equalize the score. Seton Hall stretched the lead back to seven and claimed a 2-0 lead with the 25-18 second set.

Backs against the wall, the Crimson responded with force. Harvard played its best set of the young season. The score stayed close early in the set, but the Crimson went on a run halfway through the set to take a dominant lead. The Harvard blockers powered the run by forcing a litany of errors by the Pirates. A kill by senior outside Brynne Faltinksy, who had a strong day, gave the Crimson life with a 25-15 set win.

Harvard overcame some of the problems that plagued the team early in the season in the third set. The Crimson have shown flashes of great play despite a poor record early in the year. Trouble in close sets has held Harvard back as the team kept coming up on the wrong side of tight scores. Harvard pulled out a tight one in the fourth set.

Farquhar had a strong fourth set for Harvard, contributing multiple kills. Faltinsky also had a strong set with six kills in total.

Seton Hall controlled the abbreviated fifth set from the start. The Pirates offense stayed in system and the Crimson offense was hampered by a strong set from Seton Hall’s middles. The Pirates claimed the set and the match with a 15-7 win.

Similar to its first tournament, Harvard landed one player on the All-Tournament Team. Farquhar strung together two strong games to become the second outside this season to be named All-Tournament after freshman Rossi was All-Tournament during the first weekend.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ReedTrimble1.