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Crimson Starts Four Match Homestand with Columbia and Cornell
Photo courtesy of Gil Talbot.
Story Line
Harvard returns to the Malkin Athletic Center for its longest
conference homestretch of the season Friday night against Columbia.
The Crimson, has won four of its last six contests heading into the
second half of the conference play, welcomes Cornell Saturday
afternoon as well.
Scouting the Crimson
Harvard handed Brown a 3-0 defeat Friday night, but fell to Yale
the following night for an 8-11 overall record and a 4-4 conference
mark. Junior Mikaelle Comrie recorded 16 kills in three sets
against the Bears to pace the Crimson and earn Harvard COOP Athlete
of the Week honors. Comrie is second on the team in kills with 2.75
per set.
Ingersoll leads the Crimson in kills per set with 2.83 and blocks
with 1.07 per set. She has also served up 13 aces (0.22 per set)
which is good enough for second on the squad, trailing only
freshman Taylor Docter (0.27). Durwood paces the team in assists
with 9.46 per set, while Wu leads the team in digs with 5.03.
Scouting the Lions
The Lions dropped to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in conference play after
falling to Penn and Princeton last weekend.
Megan Gaughn paces the Lions in kills per set with 4.07 and is
first on the squad with 21 aces (.26). Ellie Thomas, who set a new
program record in career digs two weeks ago (1,291), leads the team
in digs with 390 (4.88). Kelsey Musselman has a team-best 7.15
assist per set, while Monique Roberts has 79 blocks (.98) on the
year.
The Series: After a 3-0 sweep against the Big Red on Oct.
10, the Crimson leads the series 33-10. The Crimson looks to
improve to eight straight victories against the Lions tonight.
Scouting the Big Red
Cornell has lost its first two matches agaisnt Penn and Princeton
last weekend leaving them with an overall record of 6-13.
Against the Quakers, Cornell was led by Alessa Cekauskas, who had
six kills. Deveny Pula and Jessica Misse added five kills apiece.
Jordan Reeder ran the offense with 19 assists. Defensively, Megan
Mushovic had 15 digs, and Kelly Hansen led the team with six
blocks.
Pula leads Cornell in kills per set with 2.85. Mushovic paces the
group with 17 aces (0.25) and leads the squad with 298 digs (4.45).
Reeder leads the Big Red in assists with 7.50 per set. Juliana
Rogers comes in first in blocks with 49 (0.80).
The Series: Cornell holds a 30-15 lead against the Crimson
since their first meeting in 1981. Harvard looks to continue its
winning streak after beating the Big Red Oct. 9 and snapping a nine
match losing streak.
Climbing the Ladder
Katherine Kocurek is just 21 digs away from the program record for
career digs. Entering the weekend, she has 1,343 career digs, 20
behind Melissa Forcum ’99. Earlier in the season, classmate
Lily Durwood became the third Harvard player to surpass the 3,000
mark in assists. She enters the weekend with 3,132 hand outs, 1,153
behind Mindy Jellin ’03 who is second on the Harvard
list.
Leaders of the Pack
Sophomore Sandra Lynne Fryhofer leads the lead in hitting
percentage with a .310 clip. She has 159 kills on 374 swings with
just 43 errors. Classmate Anne Carroll Ingersoll is fourth in the
league in hitting with a .300 clip and leads the league in blocks
with 1.07 per set. Lily Durwood is fourth in assists, Christine Wu
is fourth in digs and Taylor Docter is eighth in aces.
Dig Pink
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the Crimson will do
their part with Dig Pink Friday. The goal of the program is to
raise funds and awareness for Breast Cancer. The Harvard marketing
department will have pink ribbons to give away. They will be
collecting donations and selling pink M&M’s. Other
activities include a t-shirt toss, a serving contest and trivia
contests between sets.
On the Horizon
Harvard remains at home to take on Yale and Brown next weekend. The
Crimson will recognize its seniors prior to the start of
Saturday’s match.
