Somewhere, Jana Novotna is smiling.
The epitome of the choke finally held Wimbledon's silver plate this summer after suffering come-from-ahead losses in 1993 and 1997. But this year's triumph has given second fiddles everywhere a reason to believe. DARTMOUTH 2 HARVARD 3
So the Harvard women's volleyball team (7-14, 4-1 Ivy), outlasted Ivy frontrunner Dartmouth (14-3, 4-1) 15-6, 15-11, 10-15, 14-16, 15-12, despite setting itself up for a fall of tragic proportions.
The Crimson breezed through games one and two, 15-6 and 15-11, against unexpectedly soft opposition.
Harvard then dropped games three and four, by scores of 15-10 and 16-14, to set up a dramatic finish.
It never materialized, however. Harvard jumped to a 9-2 lead in the decisive game on several Dartmouth miscues and strong kills by freshman Erin Denniston and senior Melissa Forcum--who led all Harvard players with 20 kills.
The team then glided home exchanging side-outs under rally scoring which awards points for all side-outs.
The team survived a late Big Green charge that closed a 14-7 gap to 14-12 to hang on for the win.
"It was crucial to start early," said senior Anne Schafer. "We wanted to start strong so we wouldn't have to Harvard got help from a Dartmouth squad thatdecided to play too late in the final game. Aftersplitting the opening two points, Dartmouth gaveHarvard a free point buy failing to get a serve inplay. The team had a total of six errors in the gameagainst seven kills. Harvard then reeled off sevenof the next eight points. As the match wasslipping away from Dartmouth the Big Greentwice--at 4-2 and 6-2--failed to get easy Harvardvolleys back in play on the other side of the net. As Dartmouth melted, Harvard stepped its gameup. The Crimson--which committed only three errorsall game--kept its energy and determination theentire way, and the contrast between the two teamsespecially showed in the final game as the matchtime approached 2:30. "We never felt negative or pessimistic,"Schafer said. "Despite losing the fourth game, wefelt that we had the momentum heading into thefifth. Harvard came out hot in the opening games. The Crimson rolled off 7-1, 7-2, and 8-0 runsin the opening games, effectively dunking the BigGreen before they got started. "We needed to turn around our season,"Denniston said. "This was our biggest match of theseason, and we wanted it really badly." Schafer nearly polished off Dartmouthsingle-handedly, registering 8 kills by the 6-3point in the second game. For its part, the Big Green couldn't getanything positive started. The team seemed happyto trade side-outs and stay in the game. Dartmouthregistered consecutive points only once beforefinding itself down 10-3 en route to losing thesecond game, and hurt its own cause with 13 errorsin the first game alone. "They got fazed easily," Schafer said. "Theyseemed to wait for [us] to make the mistakes." But then the joyride ended. Harvard droppedgame three 15-10 when its defense broke down andDartmouth's previously ineffective hitters weresuddenly finding holes all over the court. The BigGreen recorded 25 kills in the game, nine morethan their total in any other game. However, the Crimson jumped out to an early 7-4lead in the fourth game, and it seemed that theprevious game was merely a momentary blip on theradar screen. But Dartmouth was far from finished.As the substantial and largely bipartisan crowdcame to life for both sides, Dartmouth stormedback to take the fourth game in a dogfight, 16-14. "I think we just got overly confident,"Denniston said. "I didn't see any real change outof Dartmouth--it was just very frustrating." Harvard showed chinks in its armor briefly inthe fourth game--it committed anuncharacteristicly high 14 errors. The Crimsonfailed to place several serves in play and allowedtwo consecutive Big Green points by failing tocommunicate on aces to the middle of the court. "We weren't playing point-by-point," Schafersaid. "We just let our focus break down." Senior setter Kate Nash had 69 assists againsta single error in commanding the Crimson attack.
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