M. Volleyball Splits

The men's volleyball team blew the first game of a doubleheader Saturday night but recovered to blow the Merchant Marine Academy out of the water.

Harvard (3-2) expected to get a couple of wins from its trip to New York against SUNY-New Paltz and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Instead, the Crimson split the two matches and came away disappointed.

"The team attitude going into the games was really positive," said sophomore Joe Herger. "We were excited to play and we had a good outlook. But it doesn't matter how you feel going in, it's how you play."

The split doubleheader reflects the inconsistencies of the team's season. Although it is still the early going, Harvard's effort has varied from game to game. The first match illustrated this perfectly.

Harvard seemed to have its goal of a doubleheader sweep half-accomplished after taking a 2-0 lead against New Paltz. But the Crimson inexplicably lost the next three games and lost a great deal of confidence in doing so.

"The team was pretty upset after the first match," Herger said. "We weren't happy with the way we played."

"We had all the momentum in the first two games, but then we let them get excited, and they used that against us," said senior outside-hitter Kalon Morris.

Junior co-captain A.J. Lewis's dominating performance was wasted in the loss. He led the Crimson with eight digs and hit .522. Herger had led the team in kills with 13 and added six digs to that performance.

After the loss, Harvard came back in the next match and gained a victory against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Harvard won in three straight games, 15-5, 15-7, 15-3.

The game was played mainly by bench players, knowing that the Merchant Marines did not pose a formidable challenge, which gave the starters of the first game the physical and emotional rest they needed.

"The team had a meeting after the first game, and everyone was pretty upset," said sophomore co-captain Ed Pankau. "But we all decided to turn that anger into positive energy for the next game, and I guess it worked."

"We came back strong from our loss," Morris said. "Our bench players were in for most of the game and they were still able to pull together a victory."

Pankau had 10 kills and hit for. 733, while junior middle-blocker Evan Mager nailed nine kills for a perfect 1.000.

"I was pretty happy with how I played," Pankau said. "I did what I could in the situation given; what made the difference was that the team pulled together really well."

They came away with one fewer win than they expected, but the team members now have a renewed sense of purpose.

"These matches gave us an indication that we need to move back to the fundamentals and work on those before we move on to league play next week."