Perhaps a little rusty from the long offseason, the Harvard women’s volleyball season struggled in its season debut, dropping three straight matches at the Fairfield Invitational this weekend.

The losses, though, came to three teams already several weeks into their seasons, leaving the Crimson (0-3) positive.

“I think we definitely have the team chemistry,” said junior middle hitter Mariah Pospisil. “It’s the best since I’ve been here. Once we get into the groove of competition we’ll be great.”

Harvard next plays Tuesday at 7pm when it hosts New Hampshire at the Malkin Athletic Center.

STONY BROOK 3, HARVARD 1

In its second game of the day, Harvard fell to the tournament runner-up Sea Wolves 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Stony Brook (8-2) rebounded after a 3-2 setback to Illinois-Chicago the previous day halted a seven-game winning streak.

As she did all weekend, junior outside hitter Allison Bendush performed well. After only limited action last season, Bendush stepped into the position vacated by former captain Erin Denniston ‘02, Harvard’s career kill leader.

“Ally is a really great player,” Pospisil said. “She’s not as tall as Erin, but she’s a really smart hitter. She uses shots really well.”

ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 3, HARVARD 2

Despite four Crimson players posting double-doubles, Harvard dropped a grueling five-game match to the Flames on Saturday morning.

After taking a 2-1 lead, the Crimson dropped game four, 30-23. With the score knotted at 2-2, Harvard battled to a 16-15 lead and a match point in the final game. A momentum-crushing kill by UIC sophomore outside hitter Jordan Studzinski tied the game, though, and put the Flames in position to rally.

“The momentum just kind of went their way,” said sophomore outside hitter Nilly Schweitzer. “It’s so hard in rally scoring. When you are going back and forth, one point here and one point there, it can really go either way.”