M. Spikers' Hopes for NCAA Bid Dashed; Face Yale Today

There's good news and bad news for the Harvard men's volleyball team.

The bad news first.

Harvard needed a Spingfield College victory over Roger Williams College in a league match to receive an NCAA bid last night. But, alas, it was not to be. Roger Williams handily won, 3-0.

The dream remains a dream.

And now for the good news.

Yalies are coming to town tomorrow night.

And the Harvard men's Volleyball team is hoping to play the perfect hosts.

By beating them, again.

Unlike the NCAA bid, Harvard has a chance to control destiny with its own hands.

Yale Tonight

A victory over Yale would almost ensure Harvard of a second or third seed in the Ivy League tournament this weekend.

A second or third seed would enable the Crimson to avoid top-seeded Princeton in the opening round and increase the team's chances of making the finals.

With sophomore Jon Carpenter and junior Cody Church out due to injuries, the Crimson is hopping that its bench will come through for it.

"We have a lot of talent on the team. Even if we start and six players and sit Vince [Marin], I'm confident that we can win," Carpenter said.

The players hope to use the game as a stepping-stone to this weekend's tournament.

"[Winning] would be a major step in the right direction. The Ivies are out main goal that we set at the beginning of the season," freshman Ned Stealer said.

Harvard convincingly defeated the Bulldogs the first around, 3-1, on March 6, and is hoping that it will be able to repeat the feat.

The Mantra

Composure, composure, composure.

That is the Crimson's Mantra these days. The team needs to avoid a careless mistakes. In the past, Harvard has been close games turn to losses after the team made mental errors.

Up to The Challenge

Carpenter, for one, thinks the team will be up for the challenge tonight.

"We have to come out ready to play. The game will be three-quaters mental tomorrow night. But I don't think that there will be any problems," Carpenter said.

But, other than Tournament seedings, the Crimson may have another motivation for beating Yale.

"I remembered in practice today about the football game and how miserable it felt. And how great it felt when we beat them the first time," Staebler said.

"We want to crush them," the freshman added.

And not to mention, a victory over Yale and an Ivy League championship would be more than enough to compensate for than enough to compensate for the dissapointment of losing the NCAA bid.