M. Volleyball Heads to NCAAs

Some may think that the best time of the year comes with Selection Sunday and the March Madness of NCAA college basketball.

Think again. Fire up the pools one more time. April Insanity is here and the seedings for the NCAA/EIVA Eastern Regional Men's Volleyball tournament have hit the nation. (O.K. April Insanity just isn't that catchy. How about April Aberration. Or maybe April Abnormality. You make the call).

Anyway, the Harvard men's volleyball team has secured a spot for itself for the second time in four years, and things are looking good down at the Malkin Athletic Center.

"We're just all really excited about getting to play in the tournament," senior Esson Lin said. "This has been a storybook season for us."

A Blessing in Disguise

Despite winning the Ivy League Championship last weekend, however, Harvard has been given the number 11 seed.

That's number 11 out of the 12 teams that are playing in the regionals this weekend.

So you'd think that maybe this would be kind of a slight to Harvard sports, and the volleyball team would take offense.

But that's not how the Crimson sees it.

"The team thinks its a blessing in disguise because we won't have to face Penn State in the second round," Lin said.

Instead, Harvard travels to Arlington, Va. to play sixth-seeded Juniata in the first round of the tournament. If it defeats Juniata, Harvard will face third-seed George Mason in the second round.

Penn State, the number-one seed, has one of the most feared teams in the nation, and the Crimson is glad it won't have to face the Nittany Lions until the championship.

Harvard players said they are confident about the team's ability to send Juniata home early.

"I definitely think Juniata is beat-able," Lin said. "We lost to them last year, but we're a better team this year."

Savory Weekend Win

The Crimson is still savoring its win over Princeton last weekend to secure the Ivy Crown, but Lin said the team has to be ready for some tougher competition.

"We've been working on blocking in practice this week," Lin said. "We're going to be facing some hard hitters in Juniata."

Senior Per Dutton also said that Juniata has an unconventional and quick setting style for which Harvard has been preparing.

"We've been basically fine tuning and getting ready for Juniata's fast sets."

Seven Seniors

Dutton and Lin are two of the Crimson's seven seniors, and Lin said that he and his classmates have been preparing for this season since their freshman year.

"There's a lot of motivation because this is the last chance for a lot of us," Dutton said.

The added motivation and the advantage of a having seven veteran players on the roster should help the Crimson turn some heads this weekend.

Remember in tournaments like these, upsets are a way of life and anything can happen.