Spikers Seek Consistency, Shoot for Tigers, Crown

The Harvard men's volleyball team begins its quest for the Ivy League title this morning at Penn.

If all goes as expected during the tournament's preliminary pool play, the spikers will meet their arch-rival, Princeton, in the finals tonight.

The Crimson has dropped seven straight to the Tigers and hasn't beaten them since the finals of the Ivy championships two years ago.

It must be noted, however, that all of the contests have been excruciatingly close.

Each time, Harvard has shown that it can turn the tables on its perennial rival for the Ivy crown, and that Princeton's victory streak is less an indication of the Tigers' superiority, than of their consistency.

The Crimson will have to play a much steadier game, if it is to earn a long sought after victory against the Tigers.

Harvard is a more dynamic team than its rival, but Princeton's smooth style gives it a consistency that the Crimson has not been able to match--yet.

And it is precisely this consistent style of play that has brought the Tigers their seven consecutive victories in the past two years.

Princeton's defense is rock steady, allowing it to run an efficient, if not devastating, offense.

Harvard's defense, conversely, is shaky and prone to concentration lapses, which impair its own crushing offense--the very heart of its game.

The Crimson will have to iron out its defensive inconsistencies before it can play up to its potential and beat Princeton.

But before the spikers even get a last shot of the season at their rival and at the Ivy title, they most place first or second in their pool, which consists of Cornell, Brown and Penn.

Harvard should claim its pool, since it has beaten both Brown and Penn in straight games earlier this, season, and since the Big Red is rumored to be one of the weaker teams in the Ivy League.

The Crimson will then meet the second-place squad in the other pool-realistically either Yale or Dartmouth--in the semi-finals.

The Crimson won both of its meetings with Yale this spring, and crushed Dartmouth after a surprising upset to the Big Green in there first encounter of the season.

So expect Harvard to cruise into the finals and into a another showdown with the Tigers.

And in this best-of-three finals, anything could happen.

Princeton has to be favored, based on the strength of its record against Harvard in the last two years.

But if the Crimson plays with a consistency that it possess but has not yet demonstrated in its matches against Princeton, it can defy the odds and defeat the Tigers.