NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Harvard women's volleyball came back from down two sets to reverse sweep Yale (23-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-13, 15-8) for its 11th consecutive victory and second straight Ivy League win.
Harvard remains undefeated at 11-0 and 2-0 in conference play, while Yale falls to 7-3 and 1-1 in Ivy League play.
How it Happened
The Bulldogs opened the match with an 8-2 lead off of kills and errors from the Crimson. Harvard recovered with six straight points from Ali Farquhar to lead 14-13. The teams traded points until the Crimson burned its second timeout down 21-18. Harvard battled back to get within one at 23-22 and 24-23, but Yale won the set 25-23 with a kill.
Sofia Rossi logged a kill and an ace to start the second set before the Bulldogs pulled ahead 10-6 as the Crimson took its first timeout. Yale led 15-12 at the media break and broke away to lead 21-15. Harvard grabbed one more point on a service error, but the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run to close out the set and win 25-16.
The Crimson took its own 8-2 lead to begin the third set after four blocks from Ryleigh Patterson and kills from Kayla Nwabueze. Yale went on a 7-2 lead to be down by only one at 10-9. Points bounced around until Harvard used a 4-0 run to lead 22-16. Patterson finished the set with two kills to win 25-19.
The Crimson used errors from the Bulldogs to take a 4-2 lead in the fourth set. Scoring was tight as the teams traded kills, but Harvard used a 6-0 run to go up 18-10. The Crimson allowed just three more points as it ended the set on a 7-3 run to win 25-13.
Although the first few points went back and forth, Harvard got to match point at 14-5 and on a 7-0 scoring run. The Bulldogs added on three more points, but Patterson used her 14th kill to win the match at 15-8.
Harvard Highlights
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The Crimson finished the match hitting .270 with 64 kills, 70 digs, 60 assists, 14 blocks, and two service aces. The Bulldogs ended with a .177 hitting percentage on 55 kills, 68 digs, 50 assists, five aces, and two blocks. Harvard hit at a .533 clip in the fifth set while keeping Yale to a .000 hitting percentage.
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Four different Crimson logged double digit kills, with Ryleigh Patterson tabbing a team-leading 14 with zero errors to hit .560 on the night. Kayla Nwabueze logged 13 kills, Sofia Rossi added 12, and Ali Farquhar knocked down 11.
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Patterson stuffed 11 blocks in the match, the second-most she has posted in a match all season.
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Sophia Wei grabbed her fifth double-double of the season with 23 assists and 12 digs. Nwabueze logged her first career double-double with her 13 kills and a career-high 13 digs.
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Catlin Shao tabbed a career-high 21 assists en route to her first double-double with 11 assists, while also serving one ace and adding two kills.
Next Up
Harvard will face Brown at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, inside the Pizzitola Sports Center.
