Volleyball Falls to Toledo in Four Sets: Comrie and Wu Earn All-Tournament Honors

Photo of Mikaelle Comrie courtesy of Gil Talbot.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women’s volleyball team last a close battle to Toledo, 3-1, Saturday night in the championship match of the 2009 Harvard Invitational. Junior Mikaelle Comrie led the Crimson with 13 kills and also earned a spot on the all-tournament team in the 25-23, 11-25, 20-25, 23-25 loss. The Crimson falls to 2-1 on the season, while the Rockets stay unbeaten with a 6-0 mark.

Sophomore Christine Wu also earned a spot on the all-tournament team after posting 25 digs and two aces in the final contest. Classmate Ann Carroll Ingersoll recorded double-digit kills for the third match posting 11. Senior captain Chelsea Ono Horn had a big game on defense, recording 24 digs.

The two teams battled back and forth early in the first stanza before Harvard used kills from senior Lily Durwood, freshman Taylor Doctor and Ingersoll to take an 8-4 lead. The Crimson stretched it out to 10-5 with two more aces. Toledo came back and made it 11-10. Harvard won 13 of the 16 points, including a 5-0 run to take a 24-14 advantage. The Rockets flustered the Crimson and scored the next 10 points to pull within 24-23. Ingersoll came up with a big swing to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead in the match. Comrie produced six kills during the first set, while senior Katherine Kocurek had eight digs.

Toledo continued its momentum in the second session, using 14 kills to help pull away from the Crimson. Sarah Wilson recorded six kills and Amber DeWeerdt, who also earned a spot on the all-tournament team, had four.

Contestent serving from Wu and Ono Horn allowed the Crimson to pull away earn in the third set. The Crimson took advantage of several errors by the Rockets to take a 9-4. The Rockets used some big swings from Liz Sundburg and Sondra Parys to close the gap and eventually take the lead. Toledo’s run allowed the visiting team to take an 18-14 advantage. Kills from Comrie and Docter and an Ingersoll ace pulled the Crimson to within 21-19. Toledo won four of the final five points to take the lead in the match.

It was much of the same in the final as Harvard and Toledo battled back and forth early on and then the Rockets went on a run. DeWeerdt served eight times in a row, helping the visiting team take a 13-6 lead.

The Crimson slowly closed the gap. Freshman Jennifer Martin registered two kills during that span. Toledo used a small run to move out to a 22-17 advantage. A kill from Ono Horn and Ingersoll served two more aces to make it 22-20. Toledo called time out and won the next point. But Harvard won three of the next four tallies to make it 24-23. Both teams played great defense in the final rally, which the Rockets won on a Parys kill.

The Rockets held the advantage in kills, 57-50; digs, 84-79; and team blocks, 6-4; and hitting, .275-.148, while the Crimson had seven aces, two more than Toledo.

Harvard returns to action Tuesday, Sept. 8 against Connecticut at the Malkin Athletic Center. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.

Notes:
All-Tournament Team
Amber DeWeerdt (Toldeo)
Kassie Kadera (Toledo)
Mikaelle Comrie (Harvard)
Christine Wu (Harvard)
Harmonie Calinda (Stony Brook)
Kaliegh Durket (Colgate)