Kirkland Cops Volleyball Title

Kirkland House dinked Quincy to death last night at the IAB romping to the men's A intramural volleyball championship. 16-14. 15-13.

Quincy jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the first game and a 9-3 lead in the second, but failed to put the tenacious K-House squad away in both games.

Kirkland's big(or should we say little) weapon in both contests was the dink shot, a faked soft spike that K-House used with insidious ease to steal both victories.

"You spike for show, but you dink for dough!" senior Kirkland spiker Richard Reid said of his team's winning strategy.

In game one Kirkland fell victim to a strong Q-House spiking game, and contributed four net violations of its own as Quincy broke an 8-8 tie and ran the score t 14-8.

At game point, Kirkland's Bob Gibson won the serve with a convincing spike. Kirkland proceeded to turn the tide, capitalizing on Quincy's poor blocking and running off eight straight for the game.

In round two, Kirkland came out storming, taking the first three points of the game before Quincy came back with a nine point string of its own.

Kirkland tied the game at 9-9, with six straight and from there the dinks were the difference as K-House hung on for its second straight two-point victory.

After the game, amdist Kirkland shouts of "We want the varsity!" Quincy spiker Jeff Levy came up with an explanation for his team's defeat.

"They screwed us with their drinks," he remarked.

In coed competition. Eliot beat Winthrop in a three-game thriller and Kirkland rolled to a 2-0 win over Leverett. The two winners will square off tonight at 7:30 for the coed championship.

Earlier yesterday, in the trials for next Tuesday's intramural crew finals, boats for Dunster (Men's A) and Kirkland (Women's A) served notice to perennial favorite Eliot House with strong qualifying performances.

Although competing in different heats, Dunster turned in the fastest time of the day, edging the Eliot boat by one second. However, both boats won by more than five lengths in their respective races, so one tick of the second hand doesn't predict victory for the Funsters, just a close race.

"There will definitely be a showdown." predicted race director and Eliot House resident Jeff MacMillan. "Dunster is big, fast and experienced."

On the Women's side. Kirkland and Eliot each easily outdistanced their opponents to establish themselves as pre-race favorities in the A race. North turned in a strong performance as well and should be right behind the two river houses next Tuesday.

Kirkland and Eliot strengthened their respective bids for the year-long Straus Cup competition. Placing a boat in each of the four finals. Winthrop, whose strength is on land not water, still managed to qualify for three of the races, falling short in the Women's A race.

Consolation heats and the Craces will be run on Thursday. Consolation winners will qualify for the last spot in the sevenboat finals.