WILMINGTON, N.C. – Harvard women's volleyball (6-0) concluded the UNCW Hampton Inn UNiversity Invitational with a sweep of host UNC Wilmington (25-21, 25-19, 25-15) on Saturday afternoon at Hanover Hall. The Crimson is off to its first 6-0 start in program history.
How it Happened
After trading errors to start the set, a solo block from
Kayla Nwabueze kicked off a 3-0 run that finished with a 6-3 Harvard lead. UNCW kept the scoring tight, but after a block connection from
Ali Farquhar and
Ryleigh Patterson, as well as errors by the Seahawks, the Crimson led 15-9 at the media timeout. Wilmington regained momentum, logging a kill and two aces that had Harvard burning its first timeout up 18-15. Kills from
Sofia Rossi and Nwabueze put the Crimson ahead 23-20, and another kill from Nwabueze ended the set 25-21 for Harvard.
The second set saw 11 tie scores before an ace from
Bridget Egan sent the Crimson into the technical timeout with a 15-13 lead. Kills and errors from both teams kept scoring tight, but kills from Farquhar and Nwabueze put Harvard ahead 21-17 as UNCW took its first timeout.
Riley Resmer added a kill and the Crimson forced another Seahawk error to lead 23-18 and have Wilmington using up its second timeout.
Catlin Shao served an ace for set point at 24-18, and Nwabueze once again ended the set with a kill at 25-19.
Harvard got out to a 9-1 lead to start the third set after kills from Rossi, Nwabueze, Resmer, and Farquhar, in addition to a block from the duo of Farquhar and Resmer and an ace from
Jordan Shelor. UNCW recovered to get within three at 13-10, but the Crimson went on a 6-1 scoring run to lead 19-11. Shao served another ace and Resmer and Rossi both logged kills before an error by the Seahawks ended the set and match at 25-15.
Harvard Highlights
- Harvard finished the match hitting .365 on 39 kills, 39 digs, 36 assists, six blocks, and five aces. Wilmington ended with a .070 hitting percentage on 32 kills, 33 digs, 32 assists, five aces, and one block.
- Four different Crimson players hit over .500 in the match, with Resmer leading the pack after hitting .833 with five kills and no errors on six swings.
- Nwabueze led all attackers with eight kills and added two digs and a block to the match. Sophia Wei tabbed two kills to go with 15 assists and 12 digs, marking her third double-double of the year.
- Shelor and Shao each served two aces, and Egan added the other lone ace to Harvard's five on the day. Ogbechie hit .556 (5-0-9) with one block in the game.
Next Up
Harvard will hit the road to face Merrimack in North Andover, Mass., on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m.