M. Volleyball Suffers Two Losses

The best teams in volleyball may traditionally come from California, but Pennsylvania isn't far behind.

The Harvard men's volleyball team lost both of its matches this weekend, falling to East Stroudsburg 3-0 (30-28, 31-29, 30-27) and losing to St. Francis 3-1 (22-30, 30-21, 30-28, 30-27) on Saturday and Sunday.

The Crimson (4-3, 1-3 Hay) lost several close games and was unable to recover, falling two games back in the loss column to the leaders of the Hay division. Harvard is now in need of a sustained winning streak to make the conference tournament.

St. Francis 3, Harvard 1

The Red Flash (10-5, 4-1) stands tied atop the division standings with NYU, but barely managed to pull out a 3-1 victory against the Crimson on Sunday.

Harvard took the first game 30-22, and fought to 16-16 in the second game. St. Francis then recorded seven straight points to take control of the game and closed out the Crimson, 30-21.

The third game was the turning point of the match.

With Harvard leading 28-19, and the match tied at 1-1, freshman middle blocker Juan Carlos Cardet went down with a sprained ankle.

The offensive and defensive loss created by the absence of Cardet affected the Crimson's dominance, and St. Francis quickly took advantage.

The Red Flash went to the attack and ended the game on an 11-0 run that gave it the 30-28 win.

Harvard tried to claw back into the match after the St. Francis comeback, but was unable to bounce back from the third game.

Although the Crimson made it close, the Red Flash finished off the match with a 30-27 win in the fourth game.

"After we lost that third game, the momentum definitely changed hands," Cardet said. "I don't think we had the same intensity in the fourth game."

St. Francis was led by the play of juniors Adam Tebbe and Chirs Telesco, who recorded 12 kills each for the Red Flash.

Tebbe also had one block and five block assists, while Telesco had one block and three block assists. Sophomore Matt Farabaugh led all players with 12 digs, while also recording nine kills.

For the Crimson, senior outside hitter Brian Stevenson led all players with 15 kills, while junior co-captain Justin Denham and sophomore middle blocker Alex Kowell recorded 14 and 13 kills, respectively.

Sophomore setter Mike Bookman catalyzed the Crimson attack with 49 assists, four digs and four block assists.

Cardet led all players with a .545 hitting percentage, but Harvard's team percentage was only .155, due in large part to the 33 Harvard errors on kill attempts.

East Stroudsburg 3, Harvard 0

The Warriors (4-3, 2-2) used balanced hitting and sturdy defense to outlast the Crimson in three games on Saturday afternoon.

Although all three games were very close, Harvard could not gain the upper hand on the Warriors, who used very solid defense to produce a multitude of Harvard errors.

"[The Warriors] aren't a very high flying team," Cardet said. "However, they have a great defense, and our offense was not working well enough to find the gaps."

The Crimson fell in the first game 30-28, and battled to extend the second game to 31 points, but could not find the offensive rhythm in time to tie the match at 1-1. Harvard lost the second, 31-29, and then fell in the third and final game, 30-27.

East Stroudsburg was led by the play of Mike Messinger, who recorded 10 kills for the Warriors, while Jason Hartzel and Tom Shaver had nine kills each. Hartzel led all players with a .640 hitting percentage, and Shaver had one of .600. Setter Chris James had 36 assists.

The Crimson attack was spearheaded by Denham, who led all players with 17 kills, followed by Stevenson, who amassed 14. Cardet had 10 kills in 15 attempts for a .533 hitting percentage and Bookman had 40 assists. Harvard committed 20 errors as a team and had a team hitting percentage of .304.

The Crimson's next game will be tomorrow against MIT at the Malkin Athletic Center. Harvard's next conference game will be Saturday against NYU in a crucial divisional battle for the Crimson.