Spikers Fail in Eastern Finals Bid, Top Princeton But Bow to Pitt, 3-0

The University of Pittsburgh foiled the Harvard's men's volleyball team's drive to reach the East's final four, blanking the spikers, 3-0, last night at the IAB.

The Crimson was able to keep up with, if not nullify, a Panther offense characterized by disguising hitters and quick low sets. But it was the Panthers' stronger serving down the stretch that did the Crimson in. "Serving was our weakest point," Crimson Coach Ihsan Gurdal said. "We could keep up with them until 9-9 or 10-10, but each time their serves made the difference."

Harvard's best performance appeared in the first game, when the match's furious pace foreboded the war to come. The contest was so close that neither team led by more than three points at any time. Pitt managed to open leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 7-5, but each time the Crimson fought back to tie the score through superb defense and the inspired outside spiking of senior Mark Chang and junior David Twite.

The spikers forged ahead for the first time thanks to Panther mistakes, winning three straight points to establish an 11-8 advantage. This time it was Pitt's turn to come back as two short spikes and a dink forced an 11-11 deadlock. Sophomore Jon Ross's inside salvo and a smart defensive play by senior Captain Brad Martin gave Harvard a 12-11 lead. But strong Panther serves threw the Crimson off balance and Pitt captured the next four points to take the first stanza 15-12.

The first game loss deflated the Crimson's spirits, and they appeared to lose intensity in the second game. "We started putting pressure on ourselves, said sophomore Mohan Nadkarni. "We tried to outthink their offense instead of just reacting to it."

The contest continued see-sawing as the spikers lost a 2-0 edge, then came from behind to tie the game at 6-6. At this point a series of Panther dinks and Harvard's loss of concentration combined to give Pittsburgh a commanding 12-6 lead, and the contest ended in a 15-10 Crimson loss.

A similar pattern developed in the final stanza when the spikers built and eventually lost 4-1 and 9-5 advantages. Each time Ross sparked the rallies through his emphatic inside game only to see disorganization plague the squad. Once again the Panthers intensified their serving efforts and caused havoc in Harvard's setting. As Martin said, "They got passes to their hitters very easily whereas we had to battle to set up our offense." These problems and a last Panther spike ended the game, 15-10.

The Crimson reached the final with a 3-0 drubbing of Princeton in a semifinal match yesterday afternoon. The Tigers beat Harvard in the last two Ivy League Championships, but the New Jersey spikers appeared outmatched yesterday.

Harvard never trailed in the brief contest. The squad stormed to an early 8-4 edge thanks to solid defense by Twite, Nadkarni and Ross, who left Stillman Hospital where he had been bedridden with a throat infection an hour before game time. A slight Crimson lapse gave rise to the only comeback Princeton would muster the whole afternoon, and the Tigers battled to tie the game, 8-8.

Shortly thereafter Chang took matters into his own hands. One Chang ace and another service winner opened the game, 11-8. Two Tiger time-outs proved futile as Twite defended one shot and pasted two of his salvos to the floor to force a 15-8 first-game conclusion.

The spikers' relentless teamwork continued to handcuff Princeton in the next two games. Harvard built 9-2 and 13-5 leads before Ross smothered the Tigers with his towering defense, giving the squad its final two points. In the third game, the same strategy paved the way to a 15-7 Harvard triumph.

Said Martin, "We came to blow them [Princeton] off the court and that's exactly what we did."