CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard Women's Volleyball team (12-6, 5-4 Ivy) fell to the Big Red of Cornell in five close sets with scores of 25-19, 25-23, 17-25, 23-25 and 12-15.  Ashley Wang joined the 1000 club after surpassing the 1000 assists career benchmark.

Friday's match served as the Crimson's Dig Pink match alongside the Side-Out Foundation. The team would like to thank everyone who attended and supported their fundraiser. Funds raised for Side-Out go toward research specifically for patients with metastatic breast cancer, the most advanced form of the disease, and the least funded area of research. Every $2,000 raised through Dig Pink allows Side-Out to provide an unprecedented analysis to metastatic breast cancer patients and their oncologists. This unique analysis ranks treatment solutions and clinical trials for each patient that can substantially improve the length and quality of their life.

The first set of the match opened with close matchups between the Big Red and Crimson, as neither team was able to pull ahead through beginning of the frame. Harvard started to create some distance from Cornell after the 18th point, building up a six-point lead to win set one 25-19 after Nicole Prescott sealed it with Harvard's fifth ace in just the first set.

The second set played out in a similar fashion to the first, with both teams staying even through the first 17 points. After Hannah Nguyen scored two more aces, the Crimson built up a four-point lead. Cornell attempted to make a comeback but fell short as Harvard won set two 25-23 to move up 2-0 in the match.

Harvard started with a lead in the third set but was caught by Cornell, as the Big Red were the first to ten this time around. Cornell built up a lead and went on to win the third frame 25-17 and bring the match to 2-1. Set four was another close battle, with both teams going back and forth all the way until a tie at 22. After a Big Red timeout, Cornell went up 24-23, forcing a Harvard timeout. The Big Red scored the next point and won 25-23, bringing the match to a 2-2 tie and forcing a fifth set.

The fifth and final set offered just as much excitement as the first four, staying close through the first eight points with challenging rallies that went both ways. Cornell took the lead after point nine, building up to a 13-10 lead. However, Ryleigh Patterson took the next two points with two powerful kills, forcing a Big Red timeout. From there, Cornell scored the next two points to win the set 15-12 and win the match 3-2.

Harvard Highlights

• Katie Vorhies topped the Crimson charts in kills, making 14 over five sets. She was followed by Wang with 13 and Ali Farquhar with a career high eight, hitting .636.
• With 24 assists on the night, Wang now totals 1005 career assists and joins the 1000 club for the first time with the Crimson. She jumps up to number 10 on the Harvard all-time career assists list.
• Wang's 24 assists led the team, followed by Rocky Aguirre with 23.
• Aces were a bright spot for the Crimson, as four athletes scored at least three each. Ryleigh Patterson led with four, while Prescott, Nguyen and Aguirre all scored three. Lindsey Zhang added one as well.
• Patterson was the leader in blocks, making four assists total. Ariana White and Prescott scored solo blocks.
• Lindsey Zhang was the team leader in digs with eight, followed by Nguyen and Prescott with four.

Up Next

Harvard will play host to Columbia tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the Malkin Athletic Center. The match will be one of many contests going on around the Harvard Athletics Campus to celebrate the Harvard Homecoming Fall Fest. The match will air on ESPN+.