Spikers Fall to MIT In Five Sets

The Harvard men's volleyball team's loss to the Engineers of MIT was a painful reminder of last year's meeting between the two teams.

In that game, the Crimson lost to the Engineers in a five-set match. The score of the final set was 21-19.

At DuPont Gymnasium last night, Harvard again fell in a five-set match, this time to a better-serving, more-experienced MIT team. The Crimson's record in the North Eastern Collegiate Volleyball League (NECVL) is now 1-4.

Harvard and MIT quickly exchanged the first two sets. In the opening set, the Harvard team had a slow start, getting down 7-1 early before losing, 15-11. The Crimson built up a narrow lead in the second set and held it to win, 15-12.

In the third set, MIT built up a quick 5-0 lead. Harvard, with great performances by Brian Ehrlich and Julio Toro, managed to tie the Engineers at 7-7. After again tying at 9-9, however, MIT jumped ahead and went on to win by 5 points.

The fourth set was indeed a close one, with the score tied no fewer than seven times. After tying. At 12-12, the Crimson--helped by good performance all around and a questionable line call in its favor--barely managed to beat the Engineers, 15-13.

The fifth and final set looked to be a repeat of the set before at first, with the two teams tied, 5-5, early on. But MIT showed more consistency, pulling ahead to win, 15-7.

"Whenever we hit low, we never woke up quick enough to level it off," Harvard coach Ihsan Gurdal said. "The MIT team never played different. When they beat us, they played the same; when they lost to us, they played the same. It's us that's making the difference and I think we need to find a remedy for that."

"If we are on, we are very good. If we are not, we are easy to beat," Gurdal continued. "We need to get consistent.