V-ball hopes to change fortunes

"We could easily be 4-0 in the Ivies, but instead we're 0-4," Lindsey Stimpson, JE '03, said of the volleyball team's struggles to open the 2001 season. "If we can get out of the mindset of `playing to keep from losing' and into one of `playing to win,' I think we can turn the season around."

Indeed, the Yale volleyball team has been mired in a seemingly interminable slump throughout the first half of its current season. After dropping three consecutive games, they remain winless in the Ivies. However, Taryn Gallup, SM '04, sees a light at the end of the tunnel. Said Gallup, "We're not losing because of a lack of talent. The team has great potential to be successful—we just need to pull together."

The Bulldogs' Ivy season began with two losses to conference front-runner Brown (4-0), one each in the Yale and Brown Invitationals. Last weekend, the Bulldogs returned to New Haven to face Ivy rivals Harvard and Dartmouth, but the change in scenery did not change in the Bulldogs' fortunes. After suffering a close loss to Harvard on Fri., Oct. 12, the Elis fell 3-1 to the Big Green on the following day. This weekend the team plays the southern swing of its Ivy schedule, traveling to Penn and Princeton in consecutive nights. The Bulldogs hope, and indeed expect, to return with a boosted morale and a more balanced Ivy record.

Yale has had a difficult time adjusting to an off-season change in scoring methods. The Ivy League switched from side-out scoring to rally scoring, a method in which the team winning a rally earns a point, regardless of the server. This has increased the pace of games and has created more pressure situations. Previously, teams were able to relax on their own service, as only the serving team could win a point. With rally scoring, teams cannot lose focus at any point during the course of a match.

The team credits the competitive nature of the Ivy League for many of their close losses. Every team is fairly evenly matched, and even minor inbalances in conditions can affect the outcome of a game. Said Stimpson, "We play to win in every game. The winner is often the team that is more focused that day."

In preparation for its matches this weekend, the team has analyzed films of Princeton's and Penn's most effective plays. This should help the Bulldogs to anticipate their opponents' moves and respond accordingly. The team also spends time studying the behaviors of individual opponents. Confidence is one of the crucial elements of team success, and despite their struggles, the Bulldogs have remained surprisingly upbeat. Indeed, their talent certainly indicates that they can turn things around.

Their line-up features Captain Carissa Abbott, SM '02, a member of the All-Ivy second team two years in a row, and six other returning players.

Including this weekend's contests, the Bulldogs face ten more games against Ivy League foes. As there will be no postseason tourney for the team to avenge itself this year, these games are the only opportunity for the Bulldogs to capitalize on their talent and change their fortunes. If the winless Elis could just as easily be 4-0, then 10-4 may not be too much to ask.

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