Skelly had four blocks to go with her 12 kills (photo courtesy Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The Harvard women's volleyball team won two straight tightly contested sets to rally for its first victory of the 2010 season, 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 30-28, 15-12), against Bryant as part of the Harvard Invitational Saturday afternoon at Malkin Athletic Center.

Freshman Teresa Skelly registered 12 kills on just 17 swings (.647) and was one of three players with double-digit kills for Harvard (1-1). She was joined in that department by Sandra Lynne Fryhofer with 12 kills and Taylor Docter with 11. Christine Wu logged 35 digs, while Natalie Doyle recorded 34 assists and eight kills. Maria Scocca had a match-high 17 kills for Bryant (3-3).

Harvard trailed by a set and a point, 22-21, in the fourth set before calling timeout and rattling off three straight points to reach set point. Bryant hung tough, however, and came back to force extra points. The teams traded point wins until Bryant held a 28-27 edge. The Crimson then took three straight points on two kills by Fryhofer and one by Docter to take the set.

Neither team took a two-point lead in Set 5 until the Bulldogs went up by a 9-7 margin. Harvard then called timeout and won three straight points to take the lead. Bryant rallied for a 12-11 edge, but a Skelly kill started a 4-0 run to end the match. Fryhofer and Jennifer Martin followed with kills, and Doyle ended the game when her dig cleared the net and found a hole in the Bryant defense.

Harvard hit .296 in the deciding set, posting 11 kills with just three errors on 27 attempts.

Earlier, Skelly notched four kills on four attempts to lead Harvard to a three-point win in the opening set. The Crimson held a narrow lead throughout the set and sealed the win by taking three of the last four points, capped by a Skelly kill. The Bulldogs bounced back to take the second and third sets. Set 3 was tied at 20-20 before Bryant won five of the final seven points.