1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 17-17, 4-3 Ivy

Ivy Tourney Finish: Second

Coach: Jennifer Bates

Key Players: Junior Elissa Hart; Sophomores Kate Nash and Melissa Forcum

1997

Harvard women's volleyball's 17-17 season record, an otherwise equivocal .500 ending statistic, unfortunately hides the team's perseverance, comeback finish and growing team cohesiveness.

Only the final week of tournament drama set against the backdrop of the rest of the season does justice to the squad's talent this fall and potential for success in future years.

With one week remaining in the season and only tournament play left--the Harvard Invitational and the Ivy Championships--Harvard was burdened by a sub-.500 record of 10-15. Furthermore, the Crimson was only 4-3 against Ivy competitors, its last three Ivy games all being losses.

The most frustrating league loss came midseason against a mediocre Penn team just days after a three-game thrashing of league-leader Princeton. Harvard was 4-0 in Ivy action until the Penn game, which set the losing motif for the remaining regular season Ivy games against Yale and Brown.

Despite being situated in the ominous position of having more losses than victories going into its own tournament, Harvard defeated Vermont, Hartford, New Hampshire and even Ivy League- foe Brown to claim the Harvard Invitational title. Thus, the Invitational provided a major confidence boost just five days before the Ivy Championships.

Ranked fourth entering the three-day Ivy Championship tournament at Cornell, Harvard defeated fifth-seeded Dartmouth, 3-1, in first-round action. This solid victory, aside from being Harvard's first-ever first-round Ivy Championship win, also set up a rematch of last year's tournament tiebreaker final, in which Princeton upset Harvard, ending the players' dreams of an NCAA tournament berth.

Princeton, despite being the tournament's top seed and possessing a league-record nine Ivy titles--including the previous four straight--struggled against Harvard. The outcome showed that the Tigers' bark was worse than their bite.

In a match that was perhaps the most captivating of the weekend, Harvard hung tough to claim a 9-15, 15-11, 15-11, 12-15, 15-11 victory, one of only three five-game victories the Crimson garnered throughout the season. Moreover, Harvard climbed above the .500 mark with this victory, its second time out of the hole all year.