M. Volleyball Suffers Heartbreak as Princeton Wins Ivy Title

Princeton, NJ--On Sunday night, the men's volleyball team played heroically, but ultimately came up short of officially being named champions.

In a span of 59 points over two games, the Crimson lost the Ivy League title to the Princeton Tigers, 15-12, 17-15.

Harvard, fielding its best team in four years, was poised to reclaim the Ivy Title it lost to Princeton in 1993. Fate, though, spun the outcome in a different way, postponing a title reunion seven years in the making.

Now, with the devastating loss in the Ivy League Championship, the Crimson must recuperate in time to reprove itself to the league.

On Wednesday night, Harvard will play Queens College in the first round of the EIVA Tournament.

While a victory will not erase the pain of a win that could have been last weekend, it would go a long way towards continuing the progress men's volleyball has made this season.

Princeton 2, Harvard 0

The only two teams to have ever won an Ivy League Volleyball Title met on Sunday to determine the first Ivy champion of the new century.

Princeton 2, Harvard 0

Harvard and Princeton are veritable volleyball rivals, having met in the Ivy Finals for the last four years, with Princeton having won all four meetings.

Coming off the good showing against Penn in the semifinals, Harvard jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first game.

Then, the wheels came off the Crimson attack. Princeton, led by senior setter Jason Morrow, scored the next 12 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 12-4 lead.

"Princeton is a very good and consistent team," said co-captain Ed Pankau. "We lost the lead because they were siding out well and capitalizing on their opportunities."

Harvard, to its credit, did not give up after the mid-game collapse. Instead, the Crimson clawed back to get within two points at 14-12. Princeton ultimately turned away the Crimson comeback and hanged on to win the first game, 15-12.

In the second game, Harvard came out with a vengeance.

Fueled by four early kills by junior outside hitter Brian Stevenson and three solo blocks by sophomore middle blocker Justin Denham, the Crimson raced out to a 9-1 lead.

However, Princeton killed the Harvard momentum and rallied to get within two at 9-7.

"Princeton started chipping away at our lead because they were consistently converting," Pankau said.

After a Harvard timeout, the Crimson calmed its nerves and rattled out four straight points to take a 13-7 lead.

But, in keeping with the seesaw nature of the second game, Princeton scored the next six points to tie the game at 13.

After many tense rallies and sideouts, Princeton managed to come out on top and won the second game 17-15 and the match, 2-0.

"The loss was very disheartening," Pankau said. "But it was so much fun to play well against a good team with our great guys."

The loss was Pankau's second in a row to Princeton in the Ivy Finals.

Stevenson led the Crimson offense with 17 kills and senior outside hitter Joe Herger led the Crimson defense with ten digs and two blocks.

Harvard 2, Penn 0

Harvard's opponent in the semifinals was the second-ranked team in Pool B, the Penn Quakers (6-3 EIVA).

The first game of the best-of-three semifinal round was the seventh game of the day for both teams, and the fatigue was palpable.

The Crimson and the Quakers dueled for the first few points and the game remained close behind solid defense for both teams.

Across the way in the Dillon Gymnasium, Princeton was dismantling Cornell in the other semifinal match.

Although the score remained close for much of the first game, Harvard put together a late surge to top Penn, 15-10.

That late push for points paled in comparison to the volleyball clinic put on by Harvard in the second game.

Playing arguably its best volleyball of the season, the Crimson stormed out to a commanding 14-1 lead on kills from virtually the entire team.

The intimidating stuff blocks from Denham and freshman middle blocker Alex Kowell, combined with the tough digs from Herger, sophomore Conor Gaughan and junior Auden Velasquez left the Quakers reeling and dazed.

The Crimson handily won the second game, 15-2, and the match, 2-0. In the other semifinal match, Princeton also swept Cornell with an impressive 15-2 win in the second game.

Harvard was confident going into the finals after its victory over Penn, but more importantly, the Crimson had played together as a cohesive unit.

"That was the most fun I've ever had in a volleyball game," Bookman said.

Stevenson led the team with 12 kills and junior co-captain Justin Micomonaco had nine digs to pace the Crimson.

Pool Play

The tournament had begun with seven of the Ivy League schools (Columbia was conspicuously absent) and the Princeton Club team participating in pool play.

The teams were randomly divided into two pools of four teams each. Harvard drew Princeton Club, Dartmouth and Cornell in its pool, and Princeton drew Brown, Yale and Penn.

The matches, which consisted of two games apiece, were played beginning at nine in the morning yesterday.

Harvard started the day with some minor timing miscues and serving errors.

"We came out a little flat," Pankau said. "We weren't quite on our game."

Despite the initial difficulty, the Crimson regrouped and rallied behind Pankau's six blocks and Stevenson's eight kills to throttle the Princeton Club team in both games (15-6, 15-5).

Harvard's next pool play contest was against Dartmouth. The Big Green, although a formidable opponent, allowed the Crimson to rest some starters and rotate in some of the freshmen talent.

Freshman outside hitter Will Pritchard notched his first kill of the season and Kowell capitalized on his substantial playing time by chalking up six kills and four blocks.

"AK [Alex Kowell] is definitely making the most of his playing time," Pankau said. "He will be an integral part of future Ivy League championship teams."

Based on the freshmen contribution and Denham's nine kills, Harvard coasted to two more wins (15-6, 15-9).

Harvard's final pool match was against a gritty Cornell team. The fatigue from the two previous matches was becoming apparent.

"The rhythm of a tournament is different from the tempo of a normal match," said Harvard Coach Tom Wilson. "The games get more intense as the day wears on."

Although Cornell lost the first game to Harvard (15-10), the Big Red increased their intensity and appeared to be running away with a surprise victory.

Cornell, up 14-10 in the second game, was one point away from an upset win. The Crimson had other plans.

Harvard rallied behind ten kills from Pankau and eight from Herger to win the second game, 17-15

"When we were down, we were able to focus and eliminate errors," Herger said. "It was an emotional come-from-behind win."

The wins over Cornell pushed Harvard's pool play record to 6-0, and earned them a top-seed in the semifinals.