The Harvard women's volleyball team finally rediscovered its fountain of youth this weekend, but that well of energy unfortunately ran dry too soon.
At the SUNY- Stony Brook Sea Wolves Invitational Saturday afternoon, the Crimson (6-8) garnered a second-place finish in a field of three teams. After defeating Wagner (4-8) in four games, 15-11, 6-15, 15-6, 15-4, Harvard fell later that afternoon to champion Stony Brook, 15-8, 11-15, 11-15, 17-19.
"We're pretty disappointed with our finish," said sophomore outside hitter Erin Denniston. "There were teams that we really could have beaten at the tournament, but we just couldn't pull it together in time. We could have played much better than we did."
Two Crimson players gained recognition for their stellar play at the tournament. Denniston, who chalked up 17 kills and 10 digs in the Crimson's match against Wagner, and senior outside hitter Kristin Schaeffer both earned All-Tournament honors for their efforts.
In the Crimson's match against Wagner, Harvard's offense exploded from the start, a welcome change from the Crimson's usual pattern of slowly easing into the match and waiting to gain momentum. Even though the Crimson lost the second match 6-15, it soon rebounded to win the final two games.
In addition to Denniston's superb performance against Wagner, junior middle hitter Katherine Hart added 18 kills and 6 digs. Junior outside hitter Angela Lutich racked up 15 digs, and Schaeffer tacked on 12 digs during the match.
Its victory against Wagner reversed the Crimson's recent losing trend. Prior to the Wagner win, Harvard had accumulated a 1-4 record in its last five matches and had lost all four of those matches in three straight games.
However, Harvard's well of energy soon ran dry in its match against host Stony Brook (10-6). The Crimson again started the match with a surge of momentum by winning the first game, 15-8.
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