After tearing her labrum and undergoing surgery over the summer, Harvard co-captain Anne Carroll Ingersoll has had a difficult time adjusting to life away from the volleyball court. Currently rehabbing at her home in California, Ingersoll continues to keep tabs on the Crimson.

After 10 years of volleyball and a season on the Radcliffe heavyweight squad’s second varsity boat, Anne Carroll (“AC,” for short) Ingersoll found the hardest part of her athletic career was taking a break.

On the volleyball court, Ingersoll had been a dominating presence. As a freshman on the Harvard women’s volleyball team, she started all 25 games, culminating in an Ivy League Rookie of the Year award and an All-Ivy honorable mention.

By her junior year, Ingersoll was co-captain of the squad and had nabbed Academic All-Ivy League accolades.

So when her play started faltering during summer training before her senior season, she knew something was wrong.

“For the first few weeks [of summer training], I felt awesome—I was swinging hard and feeling great,” the California native said. “But as the months went on, I lost a lot of power and was just in a ton of pain. I couldn’t get a serve over the net.”

It quickly became clear to Ingersoll that, not only was something wrong, but that she would be unable to make it through her senior season with the pain.

Turns out, the outside hitter had a large tear in her labrum—the padding between the ball and socket of her shoulder—in addition to a small tear in her rotator cuff.

Ingersoll soon learned that the injury could only be repaired surgically.

“I got to the point where I had to decide to fix it and take time off, or let it be,” Ingersoll said. “The only option really for me was to get it fixed.”

Which is why the senior is now at home in California taking a semester off and undergoing rehabilitation and physical therapy, one month post-operation rather than fresh off her first Ivy League match with the Crimson.

For four months, Ingersoll will be unable to use her right arm for activities ranging from lifting, to pushing, to pulling. A recent victory was regaining the ability to type with two hands.

But the most difficult part is not the rehab, she said, but missing her senior season, missing her team, and missing the sport she has loved for so long.

“It’s so hard,” Ingersoll said. “This was going to be my senior season. [Christine] Wu, Sandra Lynne [Fryhofer], and I had been looking forward to this season since we were freshmen.”

The three—Wu, Fryhofer, and Ingersoll—had even dubbed themselves “The Golden Trio,” with plans to reign over the Ivy League during the 2011 season.

“It’s tough to realize that it’s ‘they’ rather than ‘we’ this season,” Ingersoll said.

But despite the absence of its powerful hitter and leader, the Harvard women’s volleyball team has responded in a way that has and does make Ingersoll proud. With an early 7-4 record, the squad is anything but down and out.

So far this season, even with a young team featuring nine underclassmen, the Crimson has shut out five opponents and has been on the winning end of two tight, five-set matches.

“AC had a huge presence on and off the court … and had a character that draws people to her,” Wu said. “Obviously we miss her, and we feel like we have a huge gap that we need to fill, but I think our team has done a great job of managing that hole and moving forward.”

“I am super proud of [the team],” Ingersoll said. “They’re all playing so awesome … I think [the team] we have is a really good combination of upperclassmen who know the drill and of underclassmen who are primed and ready to be taught.”

Sophomore Erin Cooney has stepped into Ingersoll’s old position and has posted impressive numbers so far this season–86 kills, 16 digs, and 25 blocks–and garnered all-tournament honors at the Harvard Invitational.

Though the time it takes for Ingersoll to fully recover is unknown at this point, she plans on returning in the spring to participate in her second season on the Radcliffe heavyweight crew squad.

“The process of being able to row again is one that I’m really excited about … and has given me perspective during this semester when I’ve been out of commission,” Ingersoll said. “Rowing is something that’s been keeping me going and patient during rehab because I have a goal in mind.”

Despite the injury, the time off, and the rehabilitation, Ingersoll still is a part of her team, even if from several thousand miles away. She watches the live statistics stream during every match, keeps up with every player, both old and young, and feels both the victories and defeats that the squad experiences.

“I have total faith in my team,” Ingersoll said. “I’m glad that I get to be somewhat connected … I’m really not going to let [my team] go.”

“We know that AC is still 100 percent behind us,” Wu added. “She is still very much a part of our team and wouldn’t want us to take our eyes off the prize.”

So whether at the Malkin Athletic Center or three thousand miles away with her shoulder in a sling, a leader is always a leader.

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.