Crimson Sets New Records and Posts Best Record in Five Years

Photo courtesy of Gil Talbot.

The Harvard women’s volleyball team finished the 2009 season with the most wins in four years, the most players on the All-Ivy League team in three years and was the only conference team to beat Ivy League Champion Penn during the conference season.

The Crimson had its best season in terms of overall and Ivy League wins since 2004. Harvard finished the season 12-13 overall and went 8-6 in Ivy League play.

Harvard also snapped losing streaks against three of its league rivals. The Crimson knocked off Cornell for the first time in five years and earned a sweep by winning both games of the series against the Big Red for the first time since 2002. The following weekend, the Crimson defeated Princeton for the first time since 2002. When Harvard handed Penn its only conference loss of the season; it was also a first for the Crimson since 2004.

Sophomores Anne Carroll Ingersoll and Christine Wu were named All-Ivy League second team, while classmate Sandra Lynne Fryfoher received honorable mention. Ingersoll led the Crimson and the league in blocks with 1.14 blocks per set. She was second on the team and fifth in the Ancient Eight in hitting percentage with a .287 clip. The Rancho Sante Fe, Calif., native finished second on the squad in kills per set with 2.81. Ingersoll recorded double-digit kills in 13 matches and had five or more blocks in a match nine times.

Wu joins Ingersoll on the second team after receiving honorable mention honors as a freshman. She led the Crimson and was third in the league in digs per set with 5.11. Wu posted double-digit digs in 21 of Harvard’s 25 matches this season. The Naperville, Ill., native also led the team in aces with 28 (0.29 per set), which ranked fifth in the Ivies. Her 491 digs this season is the second most in Harvard history for a single season and her 869 career digs rank 10th all-time at Harvard.

Fryhofer received honorable mention honors for the first time in her career. She led the Ancient Eight in hitting percentage with a .318 clip. She was fourth on the team in kills per set with 2.31 and second in blocks with 0.68 per set. She hit a solid. .336 in conference matches, which also led the league.

Seniors Lily Durwood and Katherine Kocurek etched their names in the Harvard record books. Kocurek broke the program record for digs in a career by establishing a new mark of 1,416 digs. Durwood became just the third Crimson setter to record 3,000 assists. She accumulated 3,410 to rank third in the Harvard record book.

Statistically Harvard finished in the top five in six of the eight categories in the Ivy League. In league only games, the Crimson led all teams in blocks and service aces.

Durwood was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District for her success in the classroom, for the second year in a row..

Harvard handed out awards and named its captains for the 2010 season at a banquet held last month at the Harvard Club of Boston. Durwood was earned the Unsung Hero Award, while classmate Chelsea Ono Horn received the Coaches Award. Wu picked up the Harvard Pride Award. Durwood served as a captain in 2008, while Ono Horn led the team this past season.

Junior Miyoko Pettit and Ingersoll were named captains for the 2010 season.