Spikers Fifth in Ivy Tourney

The Harvard women's volleyball team finished in a tie for fifth place in the 10th annual Ivy Tournament at the Malkin Athletic Center this weekend.

Penn defeated Princeton in three straight games to capture its third Ivy championship.

Harvard (which finished 1-2 in the competition) opened the tourney with a loss to third-seeded Princeton but bounced back with a win over Dartmouth in the first round of the losers bracket.

However, the spikers were eliminated by Cornell in a four-set heartbreaker in the next round.

Setter Christin Dingivan of Penn was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Harvard's Maia Forman was named to the second team All-Ivy squad for the second consecutive year.

Forman is just the second Harvard women's volleyball player to be named to the All-Ivy team since the honor was created in 1978.

The loss to the Tigers dropped the Crimson into the losers bracket, setting up a match against Dartmouth.

Do or Die

Led by Suzie Tapson's serving and a tenacious defense, the Crimson jumped out to a 12-1 advantage in the opening game and went on to smash the Big Green, 15-2.

A fired-up Dartmouth squad quickly grabbed a 5-1 lead in the second set, but Harvard fought back to tie the game at 10-10. After the Crimson pulled in front, 14-13 the Big Green tallied three straight points to capture the set.

Dartmouth's momentum carried over to the third set, as the Big Green took a commanding 10-1 lead. Faced with the possibility of going down a set, Harvard slammed its way back to a 10-10 tie.

Four consecutive slams by Kelly Abraham and Jodi Cassell pulled the Crimson ahead by four, but Dartmouth tallied three straight to close the gap to one.

However, freshman Lee Polikoff closed out the third set with a strong slam down the middle of the floor to give the Crimson a 15-13 win.

Wasting little time in the fourth set, Tapson served Harvard's ninth ace of the match, giving the Crimson a 6-1 lead. The spikers recorded 11 aces in the four-game match.

Led by Schossbeger's serves and blocks and Forman's perfect sets, the spikers increased their lead to 10-3. The Crimson finished off Dartmouth with a series of tremendous spikes, whipping the Big Green, 15-3, to clinch the match.

After defeating Dartmouth, Harvard dropped the opening two contests of its showdown with Cornell, 15-6 and 15-3.

Playing its best volleyball of the year, the Crimson out-shot and out-played the Big Red to win the third set, 15-7.

"The third set against Cornell was the best we've played all year," Captain Forman said. "We're only going to get better and better."

But in the fourth set, the Crimson fell behind early and was unable to recover, dropping a 15-6 decision that eliminated the spikers from the tournament.

"I think we had a great season, not based on our win-loss record," Harvard Coach Wayne Lem said. "We have a solid program here, the kids are enthusiastic, dedicated, and hungry. I didn't turn the team around, 14 players did. They worked their tails off all season."