Spikers Sack Springfield

The Harvard man's volleyball team cruised past Springfield, 3-0, last night at the Indoor Athletic Building.

While the victory was far from the spikers' most exacting triumph of the year, it did, nonetheless, earth them the East Coast Volleyball League Division Three Championship and the home court advantage for the NCAA playoffs this Saturday.

If the Crimson circles its two matches this weekend, it advances to the East Coast Final Four at Penn St. for a shot at the National Final Four.

After winning the Ivy League Championship last weekend with an exhilarating victory over Princeton, the Crimson had differently getting motivated to play a lesser team like the Wildcats.

"We know that Springfield wasn't that good," said outside hitter Seth Farber. "They were pumped, more psyched to win. But, fortunately for to us, we had more talent."

Unfortunated, for the Wildcats, all the desire in the world couldn't bring them close to matching Harvard's superior playing ability.

The Groove

Springfield get off to a good start, taking a 5-1 lead before the spikers could get into groove.

But then setter Russell Riopelle served four straight to tie the score, and things began to come together for the Crimson.

Scott Alpert devastated the Wildcats from the outside, while Co-Captain Mohan Nadkarni blasted through their middle block. Springfield quickly folded, yielding the first game to the spikers, 15-6.

In the next game Harvard wasted no time in clearly asserting its dominance on the court. Riopelle's second serving streak of the night put the Crimson ahead, 5-0, before Springfield knew what was happening.

The Wildcats couldn't pass, and soon found themselves unable to hit as well, as Farber thwarted their outside offense with a virtually impenetrable block.

Springfield fell once again, 15-2. "It's tough to play hard when you're not pushed during a match," said Nadkarni. "We were never in trouble. We simply have more weapons than they do."

One Harvard player who did push himself in this final round of the contest was Co-Captain Sean Doyle. After getting blocked by Springfield with the Crimson ahead, 6-1, in the third game. Doyle converted his visible frustration into determination to dominate the outside with awesome hitting and equally effective blocking for the duration of the match.

At 14-4, it looked like the Crimson would throttle Springfield quickly and painlessly. However, a Wildcat sailed into the sidelines, badly spraining his ankle and halting the match for 10 minutes.

But once the match resumed, Harvard immediately dismissed Springfield with a 15-4 win in the third and final game.

"It may not have been our best match of the season." said Alpert. "But we did just win our second division title this year-the first being the levies. Now it's time for a third.

"This weekend," he continued, "We're going for the East Coast."