M. Spikers Knock Off Roger Williams

Despite a less than satisfactory performance, the Harvard men's volleyball team overcame visiting Roger Williams at the Malkin Athletic Center last night.

After dropping the first game the Crimson rallied to overcome its undersized opponents in four games (14-16, 15-10, 15-4, 15-11). Rgr. Wms  1 Harvard  4

In the first game, the Crimson fell behind early when Roger Williams vaulted to a 14-6 lead. The tide turned, however; junior Ryan Westendorf and freshmen David Olson and Evan Beachy led the Crimson comeback.

Before Roger Williams knew it, the score was tied at 14. Following a Roger Williams timeout, however, it was a different story; Roger Williams managed to put Harvard away for good.

Although the Crimson scored several points at the start, the second game was as much a battle as the first for Harvard. The Crimson would eventually pull away and take the final five points, but not before the two teams traded points to 10. Junior outside-hitter Ben Taxy finished the game at 15-10 with a kill.

Harvard dominated the third game from start to finish. Outside-hitter Olson started things off well for the Crimson with a kill. And even though Roger Williams showed a brief sign of life by evening the score at four apiece, Harvard was clearly in control.

Led by the serving of Taxy, Harvard then exploded for 11 unanswered points. Junior Peter Buletza and senior Ned Staebler got in on the action with several kills and blocks of their own.

With victory seemingly in the offing, the Crimson experienced a let down early in the fourth and final game.

Roger Williams would not roll over and play dead. With the possibility of five game match looming and an 8-4 Roger Williams advantage on the scoreboard, however, the Crimson woke up and rallied.

The final game was a total team effort. Everyone contributed while the Crimson outscored Roger Williams 11-3 to finalize the 15-11 victory.

Following the game, Harvard coach Ihsan Gurdal seemed to be the only one pleased with the victory.

"We played extremely well," Gurdal said. "We have an excellent chance to make it to the NCAA tournament. We just have to play a little better."

The team sentiment seemed to be somewhat different, however.

"We played poorly today," Buletza said. "We weren't a team. We were just six guys on a court. We played well against Rutgers [last weekend] and tonight was a let down."

Buletza partially attributed the lack of synergy to the fact that coach Gurdal shook up the line-up.

"This lineup put more pressure on Ben [Taxy] and me to pass," he said.

Olson echoed his teammate's sentiment.

"We had no energy, no emotion," Olson said. "We don't have the talent to compete with the teams that we play unless we come together as a team."