M. Volleyball Feels Heat in California, Loses Four Matches

It's too bad that sophomore Justin Micomonaco didn't have enough good luck to cover the entire Harvard men's volleyball team.

During the Crimson's road trip to California last week, Micomonaco was chosen to appear on the television game show "The Price is Right" in an episode set to air May 5. On the show, Micomonaco won a ride-on lawnmower, a refrigerator, a hand-painted armoire/cupboard, and a bar-prizes totaling over $9,000.

Unfortunately for Harvard fans, however, the Crimson did not fare quite as well.

On its annual road trip to California, the Crimson (11-10, 1-6 EIVA-Hay) dropped all four of its matches against some of the West Coast's finest volleyball teams. Prior to leaving its Cambridge refuge, the Crimson had won its last three contests.

"We're glad that we played well during the trip," junior captain and middle blocker Ed Pankau said. "It would have been nice to have won, but we're ready to beat Penn [on Friday]".

"This was one of the lowest points of the year for us in terms of playing," freshman outside hitter Paul Guilianelli said. "It was tougher for us to focus when you're out on vacation, spending the day at the beach and then focusing on your play at night. We also had some really tough competition, especially against Sacramento State and Cal Baptist."

La Verne 3, Harvard 0

On the last leg of its road trip, Harvard faced La Verne College on Wednesday night. After playing four matches in six days, Harvard's exhaustion showed in its play. La Verne won the match in three straight games (15-13, 16-14,15-6).

"It was a letdown for us," Pankau said. "We were pushing so hard [through the first two games], and then maybe people started to give up at the end."

Several Crimson players were able to keep the match alive through the first two games. Pankau chalked up 12 kills, three solo blocks, two aces, and a .389 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Joe Herger contributed 12 kills and nine digs, and junior opposite hitter Josh Banerjee tacked on 10 digs and two solo blocks.

Cal Baptist 3, Harvard 0

On Monday evening, the Crimson lost another three-game match to perennial stronghold Cal Baptist, 15-3, 16-14, 15-10.

"It's been a trend for us this year where we play two-thirds of a match really, really well and then we fall off at the end," Pankau said. "We just usually hope that it comes during the first two-thirds of the match."

An examination of the scoreboard would have proven that the Crimson failed to play well during the first third of its match against Cal Baptist. Harvard was able to tighten up its play in the second game in a close 16-14 victory for Cal Baptist, but the Crimson again lost its luster in the third and final game.

For the Crimson on Monday night, Pankau led the team with 17 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Senior middle blocker Evan Mager contributed 12 kills and seven block assists to the Harvard attack, and Herger added eight kills and eight digs.

UC-Santa Cruz 3, Harvard 2

In its match against UC-Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon, the Crimson was able to re-discover the fire that had propelled it through the month of March. Harvard, however, lost a difficult five-game match to UC-Santa Cruz (12-15, 16-14, 15-11, 13-15, 15-6).

Following in the path of the season's trend, the Crimson played well initially and then doused its own fire during the final game.

A quick look at the numbers for the match would seem to indicate an easy victory for Harvard. The team as a whole had an impressive 0.322 hitting percentage for the match but was still unable to pull out the victory.

For the Crimson, Mager led the team with the staggering stat line of 24 kills and a .415 hitting percentage for all five games. Banerjee added 21 kills, six block assists, and a .514 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Conor Gaughan played an incredible match by adding 80 assists for the Crimson, and--in his only game played during the match--Guilianelli had four blocks and a .375 hitting percentage.

"The reason that our stats seem so impressive is that it was a very long match with long rallies," Guilianelli said. "The two teams were pretty evenly matched, and we battled back-and-forth, which is why both teams were successful offensively.

Sacramento State 3, Harvard 1

In its match against Sacramento state last Friday, the Crimson again began slowly and lost the match in four games (15-4, 15-5, 13-15, 15-4).

Harvard failed to play up to its potential during the first two games. And after battling back to win the third game, 15-13, Harvard lost its momentum and dropped the fourth and final game, 15-4.

Despite losing all four of its matches over spring break, Harvard hopes that it will be able to build from its experiences in the Golden State as it prepares for some tough Ancient Eight rivals next weekend.

The Crimson will attempt to garner the Ivy League Championship next Sunday afternoon at Pennsylvania University.