CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It was a match full of twists and turns, with both teams holding its fair share of the momentum and a lengthy delay that neither team saw coming. After all that, however, it was Harvard that came out on top, handing the Cornell volleyball team a 3-1 (22-25, 20-25, 25-16, 19-25) loss on Friday at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Mass.
Among the chaos on Friday, one thing remained constant, and that was how sharp senior middle blocker Casey Justus' play has been as of late. In her most recent performance against the Crimson, Justus led the team in kills for the fifth-straight match with 11 while also posting the team high in blocks with five (one solo, four assisted). She once again posted an impressive hitting percentage as well, hitting .500.
Camryn Carlo continues to find her offensive rhythm, collecting nine kills on 17 attempts for a solid .412 hitting percentage. Her consistent blocking presence makes her that much more of a threat, as she collected four blocks (one solo, three assisted) against Harvard. Jillienne Bennett (8), Joanna Chang (7), and Madison Baptiste (7) also put down their fair share of kills, while each notched a pair of block assists. Chang added eight digs on defense and a service ace.
Libero Jackie Baker was the lone Big Red student-athlete with double-digit digs (13), notching a pair of service aces as well. Emma Worthington and Rylee Baptiste shared Cornell's setting responsibilities, with Worthington collecting a match-high 26 assists and R. Baptiste tallying a career-high 14 to go along with eight digs.
Harvard entered tonight's contest ranked second in the Ivy League as a team in aces per set, and the Crimson showed why. Harvard used its advantage in the serving category to build an advantage in the match, posting seven aces as compared to Cornell's three. Even if the Crimson didn't secure an ace, the team's strong serving added an extra challenge to the Cornell receptions, giving Harvard an edge that proved to be a problem for the Big Red.
In a match in which each set seemed to carry a different story, the first two belonged to Harvard. The Crimson created its first small bout of separation in the first set at 10-7, but Carlo stunted the 3-0 Harvard run. The freshman middle blocker helped Cornell post a string of three points of its own, with Carlo notching a solo block and teaming up with Chang for an assisted block on back-to-back plays to even things up, 10-10.
The set was as close as could be from here, with both teams exchanging points. With the score at 15-15, Harvard pushed forward, scoring three consecutive points, including a pair of Nicole Prescott serving aces, to take an 18-15 lead. Cornell called timeout, and would get things to within one, 20-19, but Harvard scored the next two points to re-extend its lead, 22-19, and go on to win the first set, 25-22. The Crimson hit .375 as a team in the opening set.
After the second set started 4-3 in favor of Harvard, the Crimson went on an 8-2 run to build a 12-5 lead. Cornell would find itself trailing by as many as nine, 17-8, but found a way to battle back. Five straight points on a series of plays that included a Bennett kill, Baker ace, back-to-back Justus kills, and a Bennett and Justus block cut Harvard's lead to four, 17-13.
Cornell reduced its deficit to as little as three, 19-16, but Harvard would stretch it back to as many as five, including at 22-17. The Big Red continued to fight, and highlighted by a Carlo kill, went on a 3-1 run to get it back to three, 23-20. Despite the fight, however, that's as close as Cornell would get, losing the second set, 25-20.
What the second half of the second set did do, however, is help build momentum for the Big Red heading into a must-win third, as Cornell trailed Harvard on the match, 2-0. The third set belonged to Cornell from the get-go, and with the scored tied up, 9-9, the Big Red went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. Blocks by Bennett and Carlo and Chang and Carlo fueled a string of four-straight Harvard attack errors.
Cornell extended its lead to five, 18-13, forcing Harvard to call timeout. That did nothing to stop the bleeding in the set for the Crimson, but rather, seemed to make it worse. Out of the timeout, Cornell put its nose to the grindstone, going on a 7-3 run to cruise to a 25-16 set three victory.
The fourth set initially seemed to be just like any other set of volleyball, highlighted by runs for both teams. After Harvard jumped out to a 5-1 lead, Cornell went on an 8-2 run to claim a 9-7 advantage. Harvard responded, going on a 9-2 run of its own to retake a 16-11 lead.
The Big Red put together a 3-1 mini run to cut the Crimson lead to three, 17-14, on kills from Carlo and Chang and another Baker service ace. Harvard would push things back to five, 19-14, but Cornell responded again to stay within reach. Three-straight Big Red points, including an Avery Hanan kill, got things back to two, 19-17.
Harvard took a timeout, which proved to be effective, as the Crimson went on a 3-0 run out of the break to widen the gap back to five, 22-17. At this point, play paused for roughly 45 minutes due to slick conditions on the court at the Malkin Athletic Center. With the student-athletes' health and safety in mind and the humidified floor unable to be remedied, the decision was made to tear down the net and set it up on a practice court where the match would be finished. After a long wait and both teams needing to warm up again briefly, action resumed, and Harvard was unfazed by the hiatus from play. The Crimson took the fourth set, 25-19, and the match, 3-1.
With the loss, the Cornell volleyball team falls to 5-9 on the season and 1-5 in Ivy League play, while Harvard improves to 7-8 overall and 4-2 in the conference. The Big Red will look to bounce back when it takes on Dartmouth tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H.
