But kills by Schweitzer and sophomore outside hitter Katie Turley-Molony and a backbreaking ace by sophomore setter Sarah Cebron put the Crimson up 28-23. A misplayed ball and a wide kill by Penn gave Harvard the victory.

“I just had so many emotions coming into the game,” Gould said. “It’s so nice to win at home.”

PRINCETON 3, HARVARD 1

Facing the team that ended its undefeated Ivy run earlier this season, the Crimson was eager to avenge the defeat. But Harvard came up short, losing to the Tigers 3-1 (23-30, 30-27, 30-23, 30-21).

The match was dictated by huge runs by both teams, with one squad jumping out to a large lead only to give up several points to the other.

“Ideally, we should be able to push through and sideout right away,” Gould said. “That was really our major problem, that we couldn’t sideout right away and [that we] let them get runs.”

The loss obscured a phenomenal achievement by Ogbechie. She posted 11 kills to reach the 1,000-kill career mark despite having missed the majority of last year with a knee injury.

“Last year, [Ogbechie] was injured all year,” Harvard coach Jennifer Weiss said. “Most attackers take four seasons before they get their 1,000. So, she’s just fabulous.”

While the Crimson had a strong offensive performance, the Princeton defense played even better. Many balls that seemed destined to hit the floor were saved by diving Tigers.

“Princeton played some great defense,” Weiss said. “They dug a lot of balls, so we had our hands full.”

“They pick up a lot of loose balls, and that’s frustrating as a hitter,” Schweitzer added.

After Harvard won the first game rather easily, the Princeton defense took control in the second frame. A series of wide kills and net violations by the Crimson allowed the Tigers to go on a 14-5 run to take a 29-19 lead. But Harvard went on a streak of its own, rolling off eight straight points before a service error by Schweitzer gave the game to Princeton.

The Crimson was unable to take advantage of this positive momentum in the third frame. Though Harvard took an early 9-4 lead, the Tigers battled back to go ahead 14-13—a lead they never relinquished for the rest of the game.

The Crimson never led in the fourth frame, hitting a feeble .071. Princeton, jumping ahead by an early 8-0 margin, cruised to a 30-21 win to end the match and keep its Ivy championship hopes alive.

“It’s always hard to come back from that kind of deficit,” Schweitzer said. “We can’t dig ourselves into that kind of hole—we did it in games two, three, and four. But I think our team showed a lot of spirit by coming back the way we did.”