W. Spikers Downed by Elis

After a three game win against Brown on Friday, the Harvard women's volleyball team was hoping to secure a second place finish in the Ivy League with a win against Yale on Saturday.

This game not only determined who would be the second-place team in the league, it also was a chance for the Crimson (11-8, 4-3 Ivy) to avenge its 1994 loss to the Bulldogs that pushed them into fourth place Ivy League finish last season.

But the Bulldogs proved to be just too fierce, defeating the Crimson in three games by a 15-9, 15-7, 15-7 score.

"Coming out of the game Friday we were excited to face Yale," sophomore Sarah Logan said, "We began the first game fired up but they took advantage of our mistakes and we had a difficult time recovering."

Although the Crimson came up short, they had a strong first game, keeping close with the Elis throughout the set. With its good early performance, Harvard was optimistic of its ability to win the succeeding games.

However, Yale was not about to let up. As the Bulldogs began to capitalize on the Crimson's mistakes in the second and third games, Harvard's cohesion deteriorated and it wasn't able to gel as it had in the first game.

Freshman outside hitter Melissa Forcum lead the Crimson campaign with 15 kills and six digs. Middle hitter Logan, who has provided consistently strong play for the Crimson throughout the season, also contributed five kills to the team's effort.

But Harvard's effort could not sway arch-rival Yale, who moved into second place in the Ivies with the victory and placed the Crimson in third spot.

"It was a disappointing loss," sophomore setter and outside hitter Lolita Lopez said, "but we are now looking to finish the season with strong showings in our upcoming tournaments."

In addition to a match against Rutgers on Thursday, Harvard hosts Brown, Dartmouth, Manhattan, UNH and Vermont in the Harvard Invitational on November 4 and 5.

The squad will end the season with the Ivy League championships at Penn on November 10 and 11. If Harvard can play with the same intensity that they did in Friday's three-game slaughtering of Brown, the Crimson will prove that the Yale loss was a blemish and not symbolic of its season play. Yale  3 Harvard  0