Women Spikers Host Ivy Tournament

The women's volleyball team will be squaring off against some of the top-ranked squads in the East this weekend as they host their first Ivy League tournament, but first-year coach Karyn Altman is "confident that we can play with anybody in the league."

Altman, discussing the team's strategy said yesterday. "We are not going to try to fake anybody out on the court--we are too inexperienced for that; we are just going to strive for consistency and hustle and hope we are hitting well when we come up against the top teams. She added, "I feel that each team can beat any other team in the league."

As home-court coach, Altman seeded the teams for the tournament--ranking Harvard fourth behind last year's top three finishers--Princeton, Penn and Cornell. The former MIT volleyball player said the seeding is inconsequential in a round-robin tournament where each team plays all the others--except that it allows the pivotal games to be played on the second day of the tournament."

The Crimson, 9-5 on the season and 3-0 in the Ivy League with wins over Dartmouth, Brown and Yale, opens the tournament this morning at 9:45 a.m. against fifth-ranked Brown.

Co-captain Margaret Cheng. confident that the team can improve on last year's dismal 0-6 record in the championships said yesterday, "Last year we were just a club team, and we couldn't practice more than a few times a week--this year we are ready to play." Cheng, a Kirkland House junior and the team's setter, added that, "It is a good sign that we have already won against three of the teams in the tournament.

Harvard volunteered to run the tournament when Columbia--the previously scheduled hosts--realized that they lacked sufficient court space for an eight-team tournament. The games will take place on the fourth floor of the IAB and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Admision is free.

The women spikers conclude their first varsity season next weekend when they enter the Division B flight of the state championship tournament held at MIT.