“Dartmouth Slips Past Volleyball” reads the headline on the Cornell Athletics website for this weekend. But while the scores for all four sets against the Green may have stayed within five points, at the end of the night the Red had lost another 3-1 match, with final totals of 25-20, 25-22, 24-26 and 25-20. The possibility for redemption on Saturday was not fulfilled, either, as the Red lost to a strong Harvard club in straight sets, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-18.

“We were winning at times,” said head coach Sara Bernson, “We just couldn’t close them out.”

With the twin losses, Cornell (6-15, 3-7 Ivy) slips to fifth in the Ivy rankings, behind both Harvard (10-11, 6-4 Ivy) and Dartmouth (9-11, 5-5 Ivy). The Red has now lost its last four matches in a row, a streak that has taken a clear toll on the team’s emotions.Career Reeder: Sophomore Jordan Reeder handled the offense against Dartmouth, tallying a personal-record 41 assists on Friday.

“I think the ay our records has been this year, its shaken our confidence,” Bernson said. “I think we kind of have to break out of this losing mentality.”

During the Dartmouth match, the Red had moments of great play, and continuing a trend from previous losses, multiple individuals posted impressive statistics.

Freshman outside hitter Deveney Pula led the Red with 19 kills and five errors and a .264 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Alessa Cekauskas added nine kills while senior outside hitter Jessica Misse ended with the best percentage of the night (.375).

Directing the offense was sophomore Jordan Reeder, who dished out a personal record 41 assists, along with 13 digs and two aces. Senior co-captain and libero Megan Mushovic tallied a game-leading 35 digs.

The Green had two players with hitting percentages over .400, and five teammates posted double-digit digs numbers.

The Red tried to run the same line-up it used against the Green the first time the two teams faced off this season, on Oct. 10, when Cornell came away with a 3-1 victory. This time, however, the Green was ready.

In the first set, a 6-6 tie was broken by a three-point run by the Green. The Red answered back with its own unanswered run to tie it back up at 10 apiece. Not to be outdone, the Green came back again, this time with a 7-1 run which the Red was this time unable to answer.

Each time something started to work well for the Red, a different aspect seemed to start struggling.

“Deveney [Pula] had a good night,” Bernson said, “but our right side didn’t have as strong numbers.”

The second set progressed similarly to the first, with the teams battling back and forth until the Green broke through with a big run to take a 15-9 lead. Regaining its composure, Cornell slowly worked its way back to within two points, and indeed trailed by only at late, 23-22, until the Green finally closed down the rally with a well-timed kill and service ace.

Then came the break. Unlike in last week’s match, the Red returned from the pause with a fierce determination, and the match was extremely close, with 18 total ties throughout. A clutch kills by Madeleine Pryzbyl tied the game for the final time at 24-24, and back-to-back block assists by Pryzbyl and Alice Cope earned the Red the win.

The ultimate set saw multiple large scoring runs from both teams. Cornell stayed in the game until back-to-back kills gave The Green a 21-18 lead that it would not relinquish, as Dartmouth scored four points to Cornell’s two to take the set and match.

On Halloween afternoon the Red was in Cambridge to take on the Crimson.

Cornell was led by Mushovic again, who finished with 17 digs, with Pula adding 11. Reeder was helped out at setter this match by Lucy Zheng, with Zheng earning 16 assists and Reeder 11. On offense, Megan Tatum hit an impressive .500.

The Red had a small, early lead to start the first set, but the Crimson came back to tie the score at six apiece. A Cornell run then put the team up again, 12-8. A 7-2 scoring run by the home team was the decisive turning point in the match, however, with the home team holding on to score the last four points of the set.

In the second set it was the Crimson that earned the early, 7-2 lead, before the Red came back to eventually tie the game up at eight. Undeterred, Harvard responded decisively with a backbreaking 9-1 scoring run to roll to its second victory.

Serving problems plagued the Red all afternoon, as well, with the Red consistently having problems responding to big Harvard runs.

“We’d get close with them and the they’d go on a run,” Bernson said. This is something that the Red struggled with the first time it competed with Harvard, a 3-1 loss on Oct. 9.

With its back against a wall, Cornell came out swinging at the start of the third set, jumping out to an 8-2 lead. The execution problems that have plagued the Red all season contributed to a slowdown in scoring that allowed the home team to tie the score at 12. Taking advantage of this shift in momentum, Harvard went on a 12-3 tear to push the lead to 23-15. A late Cornell push was not enough to overcome the eight-point deficit, and the Crimson earned the necessary two points for the win.

“We need to score points,” Bernson said. “That’s how you win.”

Bernson has stressed the rebuilding nature of this season on multiple occasions, owing to the team’s large freshmen and sophomore classes. However, she said, a rebuilding year does not necessitate a losing one.

“We know we’re building something for the future, but we can’t rest on that.”