Photo of Anne Carroll Ingersoll and Katherine Kocurek courtesy of Gil Talbot.

HOUSTON, Texas – The Harvard women's volleyball team took a set from South Carolina Saturday afternoon in their final match of the Mizuno Invitational II at Rice, but were unable to upset the SEC powerhouse. The Crimson fell 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 25-12. Earlier in the day, the team lost to host Rice, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15.

Sophomores Anne Carroll Ingersoll and Sandra Lynne Fryhofer paced the Crimson with 13 and 12 kills each. Ingersoll hit .346 and Fryhofer added a .440 clip, nearly beating out her best performance of the season set earlier in the day against Rice. Freshman Jennifer Martin posted a career-best seven kills in to help the Crimson effort. Senior Lily Durwood handed out 37 assists and recorded 13 digs, while sophomore Christine Wu led the Crimson for the seventh time this season with 26 digs.

For her efforts, Fryhofer was named to the all-tournament team. The Atlanta, Ga., native had 28 kills, five blocks and hit above .400 twice in Harvard's three contests.

The Crimson posted a season-high nine blocks in the match and hit .312 in the third set for a weekend best hitting percentage. South Carolina jumped out to an early lead in the first set, taking a five point lead at 10-5. Harvard cut into the lead with kills from senior co-captain Chelsea Ono Horn and freshman Taylor Docter at 13-13. The Gamecocks won the next three points to take back went up by as many held as five points later in the set. Harvard used three-straight tallies and took two of the next three points to pull within 20-19. South Carolina got two big swings to go up by two. Harvard called timeout, but could not get a side out. The Gamecocks went on to take the first session, 25-21.

After the Gamecocks won the first point, the Crimson scored five of the next six to take a 5-3 lead. The Crimson managed to go up by 8-5 before South Carolina tied the score at 9-9. The teams battled back and forth for much of the second stanza. Harvard regained the lead for go at 21-20 with a Fryhofer strike. Ingersoll was involved in Harvard's final four scores, coming up with three kills and forming a wall with Durwood to post a block.

The Crimson pulled away early in the third set, taking a 13-7 lead on a Gamecock attack error. South Carolina slowly chopped away at the lead, tying the set at 18-18. The teams went back and forth with the Gamecocks earning its first lead at 21-20. Harvard tied it on another South Carolina error, but couldn't take back the lead, as South Carolina scored two of the final three tallies to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

South Carolina turned a 3-3 tie into an 8-5 lead early in the final set. The Crimson cut the lead to 11-9 on a Katherine Kocurek ace and a Durwood kill, but South Carolina won eight of the next nine points to take a 21-10 advantage. The Crimson were unable to recover as the Gamecocks went on to win the final three points and the match.

Sandra Lynne Fryhofer hit had 12 kills on 24 attempts with just one error for a .458 clip against Rice. Lily Durwood handed out 26 assists and collected 10 digs. Christine Wu also posted double digit digs with 10. Anne Carroll Ingersoll had eight kills and three blocks.

The Crimson hung around with Owls for much of the first set. A kill from Ashleigh McCord pulled the home team even with the Crimson and back-to-back Harvard attack errors gave Rice a 14-12 lead. Docter nailed a ball in Owls territory to make it 14-13, but two more tallies for the Owls and Rice had the largest lead of the match at 16-13. Harvard called a timeout and closed the gap. Rice moved out to a three-point lead at 19-16 before the Crimson tied it on a Chelsea Ono Horn ace at 21-21. The Owls won the next two points and two of the last three to take the first set.

Harvard ran out to a 10-7 lead before the Owls came back and evened the score at 10-10. Both teams went on streaks of three to four points resulting in a tied score at 17-17. Rice scored three straight to take a 20-17 lead and outscored the Crimson down the stretch to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Rice went on a big run to start the third set, outscoring the Crimson 8-2. The Crimson was unable to get any closer Owls hit .457 on 15 kills for its eighth win of the season.