MIT Ruins Spiker Coach's Debut; Crimson Bows to Beavers in Four

With a new coach in town, the Harvard men's volleyball team was hoping to welcome her to Harvard on a high note.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, its result last night under new Coach Judy Merryman was the same as it had been under departed Coach Ihsan Gurdal, who left the squad last week to serve a mandatory two month stint in the Turkish army.

Under the leadership of Merryman and Assistant Coach Marcio Muller, Harvard fell to MIT for the second time in as many matches this season. The Beavers (6-4 overall, 3-2 league) broke open a close match in the third game to polish off the Crimson (7-10, 0-5) by scores of 16-14, 9-15, 15-6 and 15-12.

MIT outside hitter Roland Rocafort and middle hitter Chris White combined for 16 kills to foil Merryman's debut. Harvard was led by outside hitters Vince Marin and Albert Kim with 18 and 11 kills, respectively.

Playing without injured middle hitter Brian Ehrlich, the Crimson was unable to spike consistently from the outside. MIT Coach Sean Tierney said he felt that this unreliable play from Harvard's long-range spikers was the key to the match.

"We took the outside away from them and forced their outside hitters to change their shots," Tierney said.

But Merryman said that the Crimson's problems were due more to adaptation to a new coaching style and a young team of Crimson spikers than to MIT's defense.

"We're doing a lot of new things," Merryman said. "Adjusting to new coaching is difficult. The players and I need time to get acquainted. There are a lot of freshmen on the team and they are a little uncertain about their execution of plays. Some of them are our stronger players, but they lack experience."

"A new coach doesn't know the team very well," Muller added. "We are trying variations on the offense that will take time for the players to adjust to."

Sub-Par

Harvard played a competitive match, but was hurt by several crucial calls--one of which cost them the first game. With the score knotted at 14 apiece, Merryman's illegal substitution turned the ball over to the Beavers, who proceeded to whip off the next two points for the win. But the Crimson was hurt more by sloppy defensive play and inaccurate serving than by anything else.

"Defense is our main problem," Captain Alec Berg said. "Our serving wasn't good. We're trying to run different stuff to improve our defense. We are playing as six individuals who don't work well as a unit."

According to Marin, the team will try to regroup and look towards the future.

"We're working to get ready for the Ivies," Marin said. "We've got a better attitude and a new outlook with a new coach."

The Crimson will try to carry this positive outlook into the Ivy League tournament next month and fuel the team to victory against traditional powers Penn and Princeton.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson will return to the Malkin Athletic Center to challenge Brown this Saturday and Roger Williams next Thursday before closing its regular season against Tufts the following week.