M. Volleyball Loses to Princeton, Rutgers at Home

There's always a first for everything.

The Harvard men's volleyball team had just hoped that this first would never come.

For the first time this season, the Crimson (6-5, 0-2 EIVA-Hay) was swept in three games, 15-9, 15-5 and 15-10, by Princeton on Saturday afternoon at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Then the same thing happened yesterday, when Harvard lost to Rutgers-Newark, 15-4, 15-10 and 15-5. PRINCETON  3 HARVARD  0 RUTGERS-NEWARK  3 HARVARD  0

Princeton 3, Harvard 0

Strong Tiger blocking and well-placed Princeton jump serves pulled the Harvard defense out of its comfort zone and left the Crimson scrambling for answers.

"[Princeton] did a much better job of blocking than we did, and they covered the entire floor," said Harvard coach Tom Wilson. "Our blocking just wasn't as solid."

"[The loss] is very disappointing, obviously," said junior co-captain Ed Pankau. "We just missed some serves, and I know that I personally missed some serves."

For the Crimson, co-captain A.J. Lewis chalked up ten kills and ten digs, and Pankau added eight kills and 13 digs. Senior middle blocker Evan Mager also contributed 13 kills, and freshman setter Conor Gaughan set up 31 points and added 13 digs to the Crimson attack.

"We're not used to playing against a bigger team," Gaughan said. "We didn't block well enough and didn't receive their serves well."

During the highly contentious first game, Princeton obtained an early lead that Harvard was never able to overcome. With both teams tied at five, Princeton's defense, led by sophomore Kevin Roche, took control of the game and gained a quick 8-5 advantage over the Crimson.

After a series of strong blocking by the Tigers and two kills by Harvard outside hitter Paul Guilianelli, the Crimson closed the gap to 9-8. The Tigers then charged ahead with a 6-1 run behind rocket-launched kills by Princeton's John Lerch and Roche and unforced errors by the Crimson to win the first game, 15-9.

The Crimson dragged its heels throughout the second game. Sophomore Steve Cooper teamed up with junior Jason Morrow to give Princeton an insurmountable 8-1 lead. The Crimson crept back to 8-3 behind kills by Pankau and junior Josh Banerjee, but well-placed Tiger hits smoked through the Crimson's hands and found the holes in its defense. Princeton won the second game, 15-5.

Harvard opened the third game riding a wave of momentum. The walls of the MAC reverberated with the cheers and well-wishes of loyal Crimson fans, and Harvard attempted to feed off that energy. Princeton led early 2-0, but a definitive kill by Mager led a string of three unanswered Harvard points. Lewis and Guilianelli combined to give the Crimson a 6-3 lead later in the game, but the Tigers soon regrouped under the incredible serving of senior Brandon Vegter.

With the Crimson leading 6-4, the Tigers quickly rallied for an 11-6 advantage over Harvard behind Vegter's thunderous and seemingly unanswerable jump-serves. Vegter's serves broke the Crimson's momentum in the third game, and the Tigers went on to the win, 15-10.

"[Vegter's] serves were just amazing," Pankau said. "In practice, we've been working on serving and receiving, especially against tougher servers, but he was just very hard to hit."

"[Princeton] won the serving war," Wilson said. "They're just a very good serving team, and they generally put more pressure on us to receive."

The Crimson did not, however, walk away from the match empty-handed. It learned lessons from a physically bigger Tiger team that it can use in the future.

"We definitely need to clean up our blocking," Wilson said. "That's the area that really hurt us during the match."

"We are going to have to work on playing against bigger teams," Gaughan said. "That's something that we're not used to, and we need to be able to adjust to that for the rest of the season."

Rutgers 3, Harvard 0

The Crimson had hoped to bounce back after the disappointing loss to Princeton. But Rutgers, ranked No. 15, did not cooperate.

"They are strong in every way a team can be; they have no weaknesses," Harvard Coach Tom Wilson said.

The Crimson was a little slow to start the first match, allowing the Scarlett Raiders to soar ahead, beyond the reach of any sort of comeback.

"It is tough to head into a game you know you are going to lose," said senior middle blocker Evan Mager.

The second match was the more exciting due to the late rally made possible by the new "two-thug" offense Wilson had his team execute. In this system, an extra passer positioned on the inside allowed Harvard to use its outside hitters more.

Harvard was down 7-1 when the new offense kicked into gear. The Crimson dramatically shut Rutgers down while catching up to tie the score, 8-8.

However, Rutgers proved too much for the Crimson. It did not allow Harvard to convert on any of its side-outs, forcing the Crimson to lose possession and the match.

"The second game was by far our best game," Mager said.

Mager played a huge part in the offense produced by Harvard, leading the team in kills from the inside.

Harvard's serving in the third was under par, causing the Crimson to turn over the little possession it obtained.

The third game looked much like the first, filled with many errors that the Scarlett Raiders did not hesitate to take advantage of. The Crimson did not get on the board until it was down, 8-0.

"We made too many mistakes to be able to beat Rutgers," Wilson said. "But if we played with the energy we played with today yesterday, against Princeton, we could have beaten [the Tigers]."

The Crimson continues to see strong play from junior middle blocking co-captain Ed Pankau, who currently leads the nation in blocks with an average of 2.93 blocks per match.

Another category leader on the Crimson is junior outside hitter Joe Herger, who is top in the nation for digs, averaging 2.73 per game.

"Joe's passing is real consistent, he has been doing a lot for us," Wilson said.

Wilson also extolled the play of freshman outside hitter Paul Guilianelli, who has been diving all over the court. His hustle has resulted in several unexpected points.

Harvard's next match is Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center against Roger Williams.