Volleyball Falls to Columbia in Straight Sets

It was on odd reversal of history on Friday night for the Harvard women’s volleyball team. Just over two weeks after defeating Columbia, 3-0, the Crimson (11-10, 4-7 Ivy) fell to the Lions (14-7, 8-3 Ivy) tonight in straight sets, 25-19, 25-22, and 25-20.

In its win over the Lions in October, the Crimson came out from the first whistle with an aggressive offense and sound defense, neither of which could be found in tonight’s loss.

In the first set, Harvard fell behind, 20-9, and was unable to gain enough momentum to overcome the deficit, dropping the first set, 25-19.

The second game was the most competitive of the match, with the visiting Crimson and the Lions trading the lead. Harvard eventually went down, 23-22, and Columbia executed two timely kills and capitalized on an attack error to take the set.

In the third frame, the Crimson fought back from a six-point deficit to pull within three, but was unable to get any closer.  A service error and a Columbia kill sealed Harvard’s fate, as the Lions came up with the 25-20 win.

With the loss, Harvard drops to 4-7 in the Ancient Eight. The Crimson has a chance to improve its record with another conference match tomorrow night against Cornell.