Spikers Pound Huskies, Take First Victory, 3-0

The Harvard men's volleyball team captured its first victory of the season last night by defeating Northeastern, 15-4, 15-13, 15-4, at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Despite sweeping the match in three games, the spikers--who improved to 1-2 on the season--played inconsistently at times.

"We were a little shaky," Harvard volleyball Coach Ishan Gurdal said. "We're a young team and are still trying to get our act together."

The Crimson showed no signs of shakiness in the opening game, mounting at 11-0 advantage led by the outstanding play of Harvard Captain Adam Keller and Scott Nielsen. After a minor Huskie threat closed the lead to 12-4, the spikers reeled off three straight points to take the first game.

Whatever the Crimson accomplished in the first game disappeared in the next one. Led by the one-man offensive attack of Roland Olsen, the Huskies jumped out to an early 7-1 lead and threatened to the tie the match. Harvard, however, embarked on a 11-1 run to surge ahead, 12-8.

Several ineffective serves and missed set-ups by the Crimson allowed the Huskies to tie the game at 13, but consecutive spikes by Robert Kwun and Keller sealed the second game.

We're pretty stiff on the court," Keller said. "We were sleepwalking on the court. By the third game, it was hard to get psyched up. We were annoyed at ourselves."

Finale

In the match's final game, Harvard regained its first-game form, jumping out in front, 6-0, and then taking the final seven points to win, 15-4.

Spikes by Keller and Nielsen throughout the final game revealed lapses in the Huskie defense. Harvard clinched the match on a service ace by Kwun.

Throughout the entire match, the Huskie offense depended largely on the play of Olsen, and many of the visitor's points resulted from Crimson mistakes.

The spikers host NJIT tomorrow and Springfield next Wednesday.