“Her floater was working really well tonight,” Weiss said.

Junior outside hitter Nilly Schweitzer had three straight kills to close out the second game. She led the Crimson with 17 kills for the night and also led the team with eight digs on defense.

The first game had not been nearly so one-sided. With the score knotted at 15-15, it looked like the Raiders might win their first game of the season. But Harvard finally broke away to a 25-20 lead behind the blocking of senior middle hitter Mariah Pospisil.

That was the closest Colgate would get for the rest of the match.

In the third game, the Crimson jumped out to a 15-5 lead. Harvard showed its depth as the reserves took the court and never let the Raiders back in.

Freshman setter Sarah Cebron had an ace in her first appearance for the Crimson. Sophomore outside hitter Julie Marvin also came in to serve.

“They were really mentally prepared, and that helped a lot,” Miller said. “They came in and were ready to go.”

Furman 3, W. Volleyball 2

For the second game in a row, the Crimson battled back from a two games to one deficit only to fall short in the decisive fifth frame, 3-2 (28-30, 30-26, 30-22, 27-30, 15-9).

A 7-2 Lady Paladin run broke open a deadlocked fifth game and Harvard was unable to recover as it dropped the tiebreak. Furman outside hitter—and reigning Southern Conference Volleyball player of the week—Amber Montague registered four kills and a block in the fifth game as the Lady Paladins (4-5) wrestled the match away from the Crimson.

Schweitzer propelled Harvard into the tiebreak with a clutch kill followed by an ace. The Crimson had a 27-22 lead in the fourth game and seemed on its way to coast to victory. However, Furman ran off five of the next six points—three of which came off Harvard miscues—before the Crimson shut the door 30-27.

The strong performance in the fourth game was an emphatic response to games two and three which the Lady Paladins dominated.

“We pretty much said we’re better than this and let’s pick it up,” said Pospisil. “And we definitely did.”

Harvard fell behind 21-13 in both games two and three. The Crimson could not overcome either deficit falling 30-26 in game two and 30-22 in game three.

“They actually played at us a little more,” said coach Weiss. “We didn’t react right away to that.”