M. Volleyball Rolls Over Dartmouth Squad, 3-1

The Harvard men's volleyball team beat Dartmouth last night at the Malkin Athletic Center, three sets to one. Although victory for the Crimson was never seriously in doubt, Harvard did not win as easily as expected, as the 15-12, 8-15, 15-7, 15-11, score indicates.

"We're a much better team," Coach Ihsan Gurdal said. "We should have won more easily."

Still, the Crimson (7-3 overall, 1-0 Ivy) put together some impressive streaks, and the sparse but boisterous home crowd always found something to cheer about.

Harvard jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the first game by capitalizing on good serving and passing.

After the teams see-sawed back and forth to put the score at 13-5, the Crimson went into a deep freeze, allowing seven straight points.

Dartmouth's run of points was due more to Harvard's unforced errors than to the Big Green's skill. Faulty passing and miscommunication on the Crimson's side of the net gave Dartmouth easy chance after easy chance.

Wobbly but still in control, Harvard closed out the set on an errant spike attempt by Dartmouth.

Still, not exactly energized by momentum, Harvard entered the second set lacking intensity.

Dartmouth served to start the set and seized a quick 3-0 lead--a lead it would never relinquish. Harvard fought back to 3-4, but the Big Green was determined to take at least a set for its efforts in Cambridge. Dartmouth ran off the next six points, and Harvard did not threaten in the set again.

The third set resembled the first set at the outset. Harvard, serving first, used its superior athletic ability to repeatedly spike the ball down Dartmouth's throat.

Superior play by captain middle-hitter Dominic Allocco catalyzed the Crimson's 8-0 lead. Harvard never looked back and cruised to a 15-7 win.

Junior setter Pete Buletza teamed with freshmen outside-hitter Ryan Oliver to form a potent combination. Buletza, reminiscent of a fiery King David with glaring red locks and scowl to match, combined timely spikes with precision setting.

The 6'3" Oliver was often on the receiving end of Buletza's assists. Oliver's thank-yous consisted of scintillating smashes that had Dartmouth diving for cover.

The fourth set was much closer, but the Crimson prevailed again. Harvard took an early 3-0 lead, but the never-say-die Big Green battled back to tie the score at 8-8.

With victory within striking distance, however, the Crimson put it in overdrive.

Led by Buletza, freshmen setter Evan Beachy, junior middle-hitter Ryan Westendorf, and junior outside-hitter Ben Taxy, Harvard reeled off six of the next seven points to take a 14-9 lead.

The Big Green scored twice to make it 14-11, but Buletza smashed one home to give Harvard the side out, and then, like Karch Kiraly to Steve Timmons in the 1988 Olympic gold medal game against the Russians, he set up Taxy perfectly for the monster kill to end it.

"We took them out of their game plan by setting up the middle," Gurdal said.

Asked what the difference between the second set (which Harvard lost) and the beginning of the first and third sets (which the Crimson dominated) was, Gurdal cited serving and passing.

"Whenever we served and passed well we would dominate," he said. "We're a much better team, and the whole match should have been like that [the beginning of the first and third sets]."

Harvard captain Abbas Hyderi had a slightly different take on the game, attributing the Crimson's victory to both "true grit" and good serving.

"Our substitutes served well," Hyderi said. "Our problem is not being consistent in these matches against weaker teams."

Harvard travels to New York this weekend to play New York University and Long Island University-South Hampton. Both teams are in the middle of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) standings.

"These weekend teams are not the top two in our league," Gurdal said. "If we want to do anything in the league, we must beat these teams to go after the top teams, like Rutgers and Princeton."