Docter began the third and final set of the night with an ace, setting the tone immediately. After an opening 4-0 run by Harvard, a disjointed Columbia team called a time-out. The Lions were able to regroup and give the Crimson a scare, tying things up at 16-all and 23-all. But the Crimson responded under pressure and sealed the deal with a 25-23 victory in the set.

CORNELL 3, HARVARD 1

Harvard started its weekend with a bang, crushing Cornell, 25-12, in the first set of the night on Friday. But as the night progressed, the squad’s initial fire fizzled. The Big Red took the next three sets on its way to a 3-1 victory over the Crimson for its first Ivy win of the season.

“We came out firing in the first game then we got complacent,” Wu said. “We kind of sat back and let them play at us.”

In the opening frame, the Crimson came out as a force, recording several match-highs. Docter logged a game-best five blocks and 14 kills, and Casey’s 17 digs and nine kills came just short of earning her a double-double. Fryhofer had a match-best eight blocks, and Cooney had six blocks and eight kills.

After taking the first set with ease, Harvard’s game dramatically declined as Cornell rose to the occasion.

“They played lights out,” Wu said. “They were just firing balls, and we didn’t really respond and didn’t stick with our strategy and play Harvard volleyball.”

The Crimson opened with a .215 hitting percentage, but it progressively dwindled to a mere .065 by the fourth and final set. While Harvard was on a decline, the Big Red was on the up and up, bettering its hitting percentage from .119 to .308, while taking the last three sets, 25-18, 25-17, 25-18, and holding Harvard to fewer than 20 points in each set.

“They just kind of broke us down,” Wu said. “It wasn’t our best performance.”