Volleyball: Learning the hard way

The team's three losses were to Santa Clara, the University of San Francisco, and San Jose State. Santa Clara dominated the Bulldogs in their Fri., Sept. 25 match, but the next day, Yale nearly upset San Jose State, losing in five sets. Braugh said, "We were expecting to go out there and do better than we did last year. It was almost surprising that we didn't pull it off at the end."

The Elis were hurt by the loss of starting outside hitter Vanessa Herald, ES '02, who broke her arm in the San Jose State match. "She was a very consistent player and emotionally stable," Braugh said.

Despite this loss, the team remains confident. The Hartford Classic, to be held Fri., Oct. 2 and Sat., Oct. 3, affords an ideal opportunity for the Elis to test new players, because the competition is not expected to be particularly stiff.

Of course, the Blue's long term goal is the Ivy championship, which is still within reach. League play begins Fri., Oct. 9 against Princeton, and Braugh can't wait: "I'm really anxious to get into conference play." Rebecca Saenz, CC '01, meanwhile, is confident. "This could be the year that we're going to come away with the title," she said.

--Carl Bialik

Back to Sports...