Hawks Prey On Spikers in Five

The fat lady didn't sing, but the glee club did.

Between games of the Roger Williams men's volleyball team's five-game defeat of Harvard, a few members of the Harvard Glee Club burst out their rendition of 10,000 Men of Harvard.

It didn't help.

After fighting back from a two game deficit to Roger Williams, the Crimson (8-11 overall, 0-6 EIVL) had two match points at 14-12 of the rally-scored fifth game. But the Hawks (8-8, 5-3) clawed their way back to a 17-15 victory, depriving new Harvard Coach Judy Merryman of her first league victory.

"Rally scoring is not an easy thing for us," Merryman said. "People tend to freeze up."

The Hawks jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first game and never looked back. Aided by the strong play of outside hitter Kevin Johnson, Roger Williams rolled to the 15-9 victory.

Merryman made some adjustments heading into game two, but the Crimson still played flatly.

With the score 10-5, Merryman decided to substitute freshman Esson Lin for the beleaugered star Vince Marin, who had pulled two straight all-nighters studying for midterms. The Crimson picked up a few points, but was crushed, 15-8.

"We came out pretty fired up in the first two games," Roger Williams Coach Marcus Jannitto said. "We lost our mental poise in the third game when we let them back into the match."

In the Crimson came alive with the forceful serving of freshman setter Pat Harlan in the third game. Harlan helped Harvard stay close and take a 6-5 lead early on. The teams traded points until Captain Alec Berg camped out on the outside and made use of the 10-foot attack to lead Harvard to a 15-13 win.

The momentum was changing. The fat lady stopped singing, and the glee club did, too.

Freshman Albert Kim took the serving reins in the fourth game as Harvard leapt to a 5-1 advantage, jumping over the Crimson bench in order to preserve the rally and win the fifth point.

With the forces of B.J. "Mckay" Johnson and Marty "The Pickle" Valasek, Harvard trounced the Hawks, 15-6.

"Harvard came right out in game four," Jannitto said. "Number 44 [Valasek] was impressive."

The Crimson started the decisive fifth game cold, falling behind, 7-4. Aided by Kim's jolting slams, Valasek heated the squad to a 10-8 lead. When Harvard ran the tally to 14-12, it looked like the fat lady had packed her bags and headed home, but she was only going for a quick drink.

Ill Pickle

The Hawks rallied to tie the game at 14-14. Roger Williams scored next, but Valasek answered with in emphatic slam.

The score was 15-15. But the Hawks took the next two points, closing out their third straight defeat of the Crimson, ironically, on a mishit by Valasek.

After coming so far to lose by so little, the Crimson couldn't help but wonder if the services of senior outside hitter Brian Ehrlich, who missed the match with an ankle injury, could have put Harvard over the top.

"We're still smarting because of the loss of Ehrlich," Berg said.

But when the pressure was on, the Hawks adapted better to the fifth game's Ping-Pongesque rally scoring. which allows a team to win a point on its opponent's serve.

"We love rally scoring, that's our game," Jannitto said. "The guys eat that pressure up."

The Hawks had a feast.