Volleyball splits roads games, falls to third in Ivy League

The Light Blue’s New England weekend road trip ended on somewhat of a sour note this past Saturday as the Lions (11-6, 5-2 Ivy) lost to Harvard after beating Dartmouth in Friday’s matchup.

The road trip began on Friday in New Hampshire with a game against the Big Green. Dartmouth, who had struggled against other top-caliber Ivy opponents, came prepared for the Light Blue. The two teams were rather evenly matched throughout as the Big Green took home court advantage to compensate for mismatch in skill. Dartmouth initially came out to an 8-2 lead in the first set, but the Lions fought back, bringing the set close several times before eventually losing 25-21. The second set was much the same, with the Big Green taking a 7-3 lead before the Lions battled back only to lose the set 25-20. Much like they did against Cornell in their Ivy opener, the Lions battled back from the brink of defeat to overcome the Big Green in five sets.

Their win over Dartmouth placed the Lions into a short-lived tie for first place in the conference with Yale. However, the Lions’ hopes of staying in first were crushed on Saturday evening during their match against Harvard in Cambridge. The Crimson breezed past the Light Blue in straight sets, winning 3-0. The Crimson kept the Lions at bay throughout, and despite being able to recover from early struggles in road matches throughout the season, the Lions were unable to mount a solid offensive in the third set in Cambridge and eventually fell to the Crimson, losing their share of first place in the League.

While the Light Blue lost to the Crimson on Saturday, Princeton became the first team to defeat Yale this season, earning them a tie for first place in the conference. The Lions fell behind both Princeton and Yale and are currently in third place in the Ivies.

The Lions will see their next action at Levien Gymnasium against Cornell on Friday and Yale on Saturday.