The numbers show a turnaround as decisive as a Kaego Ogbechie kill.

In 2001, the Harvard women’s volleyball team crawled to a 3-11 conference record. One year later, the Crimson stands proudly atop the Ivy League standings with a 9-1 mark.

The transformation is clear. According to the team, its explanation is as well.

“It’s more or less the same team out there that is was last year,” says senior captain Mindy Jellin. “The difference is team chemistry.”

Team chemistry seems like a vague cause for such a clear effect. Athletes, not intangibles, are supposed to rocket teams from near-worst to first, but no new talent has joined the Crimson. If anything, Harvard is playing with fewer weapons this season. The Crimson (13-8) graduated one of its best all-time player last spring, Harvard career kills leader Erin Denniston ’02.

So what happened?

“The technical and athletic ability was definitely there,” says Harvard Coach Jennifer Weiss. “There were definitely [technical] things we worked on and improved, but team chemistry was our focus.”

It’s been the Crimson’s mantra. Over and over, everyone associated with the team raves about the team’s dynamic, both on and off the court.

“Everyone on this team gets along,” Weiss says.

On the court, the team’s chemistry is visible in the fluidity of its offense.

Jellin, the team’s setter, spreads the ball to a wide variety of Harvard hitters despite having Ivy kill leader Ogbechie at her disposal.

The Crimson is anything but a one-woman team.

“Volleyball is the ultimate team sport,” Jellin says. “You have to depend on the people next to you. The trust we have in each other is what helps our team chemistry.”

It may be a rarity for Ogbechie not to dominate the kill column, but in virtually every match, she is joined in double-digits by two of her teammates.

Junior outside hitters Allison Bendush and Amy Dildine, junior middle hitter Mariah Pospisil and sophomore outside hitter Nilly Schweitzer all provide potent offensive options.