M. Volleyball Roughs Up Sacred Heart

The Harvard men's volleyball team relied on its heavy hitters to sweep Sacred Heart in its final home game of the season yesterday at the Malkin Athletic Center.

The Crimson (9-9, 2-4 EIVA) dominated the match, taking the first three games with scores of 15-6, 15-7 and 15-2. Harvard jumped to early 5-0 leads in the first and third games and Sacred Heart (11-12, 2-2 EIVA) could not rally back in the match.

"We did not do much to stop them," Sacred Heart coach Scott Carter said. "We have had a long weekend but that is no excuse. We did not block well, we did not pass well, and we did not get many touches on the ball. We just did not play well."

Harvard's seniors added to their team-leading statistics in the season's final home game. Dave Olson's 12 kills gave him 163 for the season, and setter Evan Beachy had 36 assists to increase his season total to 629. Sophomore captain and middlebacker Ed Pankau block five more spikes, giving him 77 for the year.

"It was not a perfect performance today, but it was a nice way to finish up the last home game for the seniors," said junior Evan Mager, who had 13 kills. The middlebacker is fourth in the nation in hitting percentage and second on the team with 161 kills.

"We played like a team that was overconfident today," Beachy said. "We were strong at certain points, but we knew we were going against a weaker team. We needed to focus more, and we could have played a lot better."

Harvard finished out EIVA play in fifth place and missed an invitation to the four-team postseason tournament. The Crimson will travel to southern California for five matches during spring break before heading to Dartmouth for the Ivy League tournament.

The Crimson hopes the California trip will prepare the team for the Ivy championships. Harvard will have several nationally-ranked opponents, including No. 10 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 4 Long Beach State.

"We feel that we can improve our passing, our blocking and our defense," said junior captain and outside hitter A.J. Lewis, who had four kills against Sacred Heart. "Every year we try to use spring break to gear up for the Ivies."

But Harvard is not as concerned about the nationally ranked teams it is about its archrival Princeton. The Tigers defeated the Crimson last month in New Jersey, but Harvard is ready for another chance against its Ivy League foe.

"Last year the California trip really helped us," Beachy said. "We played really good ball in the Ivy tournament, and we played Princeton really well. I am looking forward to the tournament, it should be a really good way for the seniors to end our Harvard careers."