Losing Streak Comes To A Close

The Crimson swung its momentum in a new direction last night after it broke a seven-game losing streak with a five-set win over the University of New Hampshire, 25-22, 16-25, 25-10, 21-25, 15-6.

Women’s volleyball (3-10, 0-1 Ivy) hopes its victory at UNH (5-10), which defeated Dartmouth earlier in the season, will be a positive signal for the Crimson’s rematch against the Big Green on Friday.

According to junior co-captain Anne Carroll Ingersoll, the Crimson brought a distinct energy to last night’s match-up that the team had been missing in previous games.

“We celebrated the little successes we had in each point and in each game, and we allowed the energy to build on itself,” said Ingersoll, who led the team with 11 kills. “We got the big points, big blocks, big kills. It’s more fun to play with energy.”

Ingersoll noted this energy was clearly absent when Harvard played Dartmouth last Friday and will be a critical factor in this week’s rematch.

“We didn’t play our best. We had a lot more to give in that game,” Ingersoll said. “I know we should have beaten Dartmouth last week, but it was just more incentive to beat UNH.”

The Wildcats ran their offense to the left side of the court and implemented a unique rotation, both details which could have posed potential threats to the Crimson.

Harvard’s setters, freshman Natalie Doyle and sophomore Beth Kinsella, were especially challenged when the team transitioned from its traditional 5-1 formation to a 6-2 to adapt to this unusual offense.

“[UNH] runs an unorthodox offense,” coach Jennifer Weiss said. “We needed to keep them out of their system to avoid that. We worked on blocking to shut down their offensive system. Our blockers slowed down their attackers.”

The back-and-forth match began to the advantage of Harvard, which narrowly won the opening set, 25-22, but it was soon followed by a 25-16 response from the Wildcats in the second set.

UNH was then able to claim the first kill of the third set, but little else went its way, as the Crimson ran off 12 unanswered points.

“UNH is a very mental team,” Ingersoll said. “When they are playing well, they’re playing really well. We had a really long run in the third game and they obviously couldn’t get it together, but we didn’t look past them. We were mentally tougher.”

The fourth set tested the mental rigor of both squads, as it reached a deadlock at both 12-all and 21-all.

Harvard claimed several points during the set due to UNH errors, but even those, along with a notable kill by freshman Erin Cooney, were not enough to give it the set, as the Wildcats took the final four points.

According to Ingersoll, the Crimson then entered the final set with a revived energy and an attitude that allowed the girls to cruise to victory in the set and the match.

“It’s nice to finish a match in five,” Weiss said. “It’s a positive feeling for the team to be able to pull that out.”

“It was really exciting for us, especially since last season we had a lot of games that went to five, and we wouldn’t be able to pull out the win,” Ingersoll added.

The young team has been making gradual modifications to its strategies and lineup, which Weiss hopes will lead to a win on Friday.

“We had a tough preseason schedule, but [volleyball] is a game of momentum and we have a win under our belt going in [to the Dartmouth match],” Weiss said.

As far as specifics to these adjustments in Harvard’s strategy against the Big Green, Weiss was willing to reveal very little.

“You’ll just have to see on Friday,” she said.