Redemption: M. Volleyball Advances in EIVA Playoffs

Last Sunday, the men's volleyball team suffered its most heartbreaking loss of the season when it squandered a 9-1 lead in the second game and fell to Princeton in the finals of the Ivy League Championship. Harvard experienced the proverbial "agony of defeat."

Last night, the Crimson basked in "the thrill of victory" as it erased the memory of its loss to Princeton with a dramatic win against the Queens College Knights in the first round of the EIVA playoffs.

The No. 9 seed Crimson survived a tumultuous five-game match (7-15,17-16,15-11,3-15,19-17) against No. 8 seed Queens and advances to the next round of the playoffs to face the No. 1 seed Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday.

Last night's match was Harvard's second against Queens this year. The Crimson closed out its home season last month against the Knights in similarly dramatic fashion by winning the fifth game of that match, 15-13.

Also, on a historical note, last year's match against Queens on the road was another five-game cliffhanger. The Crimson again came out on top in the fifth game, 15-13.

Given such a rivalry between two evenly matched teams, one would expect nothing less than a challenge for the Crimson.

"Queens is a very good team and always plays us well," freshman setter Mike Bookman said before the game. "We'll need to be on the top of our game to win."

Harvard appeared to be in top form as it came out with a quick 3-0 lead in the first game.

The Crimson was sporting a new line-up last night - one that had worked well in he Ivy Tournament - featuring freshman Alex Kowell at middle blocker.

The Knights, however, had a new line-up to counter Harvard's changes. Sophomore Kevin Straker, who had missed the Harvard match earlier in the season, took his usual role as setter as fellow sophomore Cristocan Encarnacion moved to outside hitter.

"The switch of the setter we had faced [earlier in the season] over to outside hitter was a big reason why Queens did well in the first game," said co-captain Ed Pankau.

With the new-look offense, the Knights pushed out to a substantial lead and eventually won the first game, 15-7.

After the first game, Harvard found itself in a familiar position. Last weekend, it had come out flat against Princeton only to roar back in the second game.

The Crimson, for the most part, picked up all aspects of its attack in the next game. Queens also cranked up its intensity, however, and was ahead 14-10 late in the second game.

"Having Queens up 14-10 in the second game was eerily similar to last year when the same thing happened," Pankau said. "Joe [Herger] turned to me and said 'Ed, we're going to win this game just like we did last year.'"

Herger's words turned out to be prophetic as the Crimson rallied to tie the score at 14. Then, tied at 16, the teams faced game point since there was a 17-point cap on scoring for the first four games.

Sophomore middle blocker Justin Denham came up huge with a monstrous block that sealed the 17-16 win for Harvard in the second game.

"JD's [Justin Denham] block to win the second game was the turning point of the match," Bookman said. "If we lost that game we could have probably been swept, but JD's big play gave us a much need boost."

With the momentum, Harvard poured on the offensive artillery and defensive pressure in the third game.

Junior outside hitter Brian Stevenson notched 12 kills for the match and powered the third game surge. Denham, who finished with eight blocks, led the defensive effort and Auden Velasquez had a massive contribution of 14 digs in the third game alone.

Harvard, with this newfound energy, comfortably won the third game 15-9.

With the Crimson up 2-1 in the match, Queens figured it had nothing to lose and came out firing with reckless abandon. Jump serving on almost every attempt, the Knights racked up five aces in the fourth game and thoroughly destroyed any Crimson momentum. Queens went on to handily win the fourth game, 15-3.

The Crimson season came down to the fifth and final game. After a long back-and-forth match, the winner would be the team that most wanted to advance in the playoffs and keep its season alive.

Harvard lacked that passion as Queens leapt out to a 7-4 lead. The Crimson, digging down for motivation, rallied around the leadership of Pankau to tie the score at 7 and again at 11. At that point, another Crimson player was prophetic.

"Mike [Bookman] came into the huddle and said, 'In the next four points, someone is going to go home sad. And that someone won't be me,'" said Pankau.

Battling out the Knights for the final few points, the Crimson ran its plays to perfection and played like a team possessed by a desire to win at all costs.

"It all came down to raw skill execution," said Harvard Coach Tom Wilson. "We executed and kept our heads in the game and they didn't."

Finally, with a powerful block by Denham and Pankau, Harvard won the fifth game, 19-17, and the match, 3-2. The bench exploded and the Crimson players celebrated their first major playoff game since 1993.

Forgetting the disappointment of Princeton, the Crimson relished in the ecstasy of defeating Queens.

Harvard now must contain its excitement and focus it efforts going into the biggest game of the season against Penn State this weekend. With a solid effort against Penn State, Harvard may once again taste "the thrill of victory."