Women’s Volleyball Drops Both in Rocky Road Trip

The Harvard women’s volleyball team (10-11, 5-7 Ivy) dropped two contests in its final road trip of the season. Facing two teams that the Crimson failed to defeat at home, the team also came up short on the road, losing once again to Brown (9-13, 6-6 Ivy) on Friday and to Yale (16-4, 11-1 Ivy) on Saturday.

Harvard 1, Brown 3

In a weekend where it would be tough to win both games considering the Bulldogs’ dominance, Harvard made the trip down to Providence desperately in need of a victory to keep its hopes of a winning season and an Ivy League tournament bid alive. Instead, the Crimson found the Bears were not ready for winter’s hibernation yet.

Harvard looked ready to rout Brown in the first set. The Crimson pounced on the Bears’ early attacking errors and sprinted out to a 5-1 lead. Just as Brown appeared to get up off the mat and get ready to fight, Harvard landed another devastating streak to stretch the lead to 10-3. Those two runs were all the team needed to take the first set. The Bears tried to mount a comeback on several occasions but were consistently turned away by the Crimson. The Harvard lead never shrank beyond four and even peaked at seven multiple times, including the final set score of 25-18. Junior outside hitter Brynne Faltinsky led the charge in the set by racking up five kills. For Brown, the story of the set was errors. Nine attacking errors along with four service errors accounted for over half of the Crimson’s points.

Unluckily for Harvrd and luckily for the Bears, Brown’s attack became more efficient in the second set. Though the service line still vexed the Bears, the team limited itself to only five attack errors. The Crimson took a small lead early behind strong offensive play. However, Brown then launched an aerial assault of kills that Harvard had no answer for. Kill after kill was rained down by the Bear’s attack. All five of the team’s points during a 5-1 run midway through the set came via kills. After Brown had sufficiently dented the floor, the Crimson responded with three in a row to cut the lead to 13-10. The lead would hover around three for a stretch before another Bear run pushed the lead to 22-15. Brown secured the set 25-18 from there, flipping the script entirely from the first set and never looking back.

While Leonardo DiCaprio might have survived his mauling in The Revenant, the Crimson was not so lucky in its attempt at evading a vicious attack by the Bears. By the time Brown pulled up, the Bears had secured a 14-3 set lead. To the shock of all, Harvard was not ready to quit kicking. A 6-0 run pulled the Crimson back within five, and reignited Harvard’s chances of survival.

But, that only made Brown angry again. Common advice says to lie down when one sees a brown bear. Harvard took that advice early in the set, and once again at the end. Another massive run by the Bears, this time 7-0, led to Brown dominating the set 25-14.

The start of the fourth set harkened back to the first as the Crimson came out hot and claimed a 5-1 lead early. The Bears would answer that run with a streak of its own leading to both teams exchanging bouts of greatness throughout the set. Harvard held to its lead for the first half, not trailing Brown until the 13-12 mark. The Crimson reclaimed the lead as late as 22-21, but it would be the Bears that broke a 23-23 tie late in the set with two successive points – the first via kill and the second via a service ace which ended the game in a fitting manner for a team that has struggled with the service game all season.

It was a sloppy match from both sides as Harvard finished with 24 errors and Brown with 25, but Brown was able to make the most of its glimpses of glory and ultimately skate by with a 3-1 victory. Faltinsky led the Crimson with 13 kills and fellow junior outside hitter Peyton Hollis came in second with 10, but even with the impressive stat lines, Harvard wasn’t able to eke out the win

Harvard 0, Yale 3

Coming off a disappointing loss at Brown, Harvard was looking to pull off a stunner in New Haven. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were the only dogs in town last weekend as the Crimson was unable to pull off an underdog win.

Just as Friday’s Brown game ended with a service ace, Saturday’s match started with one for the other team. The Crimson responded well though and exchanged points with Yale for much of the set. Ultimately, Harvard never led in the set and a late surge from the Bulldogs betrayed the tight play for the majority of the set. Yale ended the set on a 7-1 run to claim a 25-17 set victory.

The Crimson took its first lead of the match early in the second set. That lead was short lived, however, as the Bulldogs responded with a 6-1 run to create its own advantage. Harvard responded to tie the set up at 10, but it was all Yale after that. Multiple runs from the Bulldogs grew the team’s advantage. The Crimson chipped away at the lead and shrunk it to three at one point, but the Yale onslaught proved too much for Harvard and the set ultimately ended 25-19.

With its back against the wall, the Crimson found some of the team’s strongest play of the weekend.

After trailing early in the set, Harvard used a 9-2 run to first erase the Bulldog lead and then create a lead for itself. The run culminated in a 12-8 advantage for the underdogs. There would be no movie magic for the Crimson as Yale responded with a run of its own. First, a 6-2 run to erase the deficit. Then, after a stretch of even play, a 4-0 run to clinch the final lead of the set. Ultimately a valiant effort from Harvard still resulted in a 25-22 set for the Bulldogs.

There were little bright spots for the Crimson this weekend but one of the few was sophomore setter/right-side attacker Amelie Lima. Lima, who has quietly put together a good year, led the team with 11 digs. The defensive specialist also recorded one block. Faltinsky also had another strong game as she landed 13 kills and hit at almost .300.

Harvard returns home this weekend for its final homestand of the year. The squad’s Ivy League tournament hopes are not dead yet, but they are on life-support. Currently sitting tied for fifth in the conference, the Crimson would need some major help. Thankfully, the team can help itself out. Tied in fifth with Harvard is UPenn, the team’s first opponent this weekend.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, sitting alone in fourth is Brown. Since the team lost both games to Brown this year, Harvard would need to go 2-0 this weekend with the hope that the Bears go 0-2. Considering Brown plays Cornell and Columbia this weekend, it is highly likely the Bears showcase their strength and clinch at least one win. But assuming Brown does drop both games, the Crimson have another massive roadblock in the way, Princeton. The Tigers are currently ranked second in the conference and swept Harvard earlier this season.

The chase for that last Ivy League tournament begins on Friday Nov. 15 at 7:00 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center against UPenn.

—Staff writer Reed Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com