M. Spikers Salvage Season in Tourney

1996

Sports Statistics

Record: N/A

Ivy Tourney Finish: Second

Coach: Ishan Gurdal

Key Players: Senior David Cho

1997

The Harvard men's volleyball team salvaged its tumultuous season by rallying to a second-place finish in the Ivy League Championship Tournament held at Brown University on April 6.

The Crimson notched wins over Cornell, Penn, Dartmouth and Columbia before falling to Princeton.

"The team played really well that day," said senior David Cho. "We came in second to Princeton, which we always do."

However, tidings did not bode well during the first half of regular season play as the Crimson posted an eight-game losing streak during the month of February.

"We were playing really bad earlier in the season," Cho said.

With the onset of spring break and the Crimson's trip to California, the momentum shifted markedly.

Falling only to the Golden Bears of Cal Berkeley, the team won six of its next seven games. Yet the Crimson's new winning trend did not come easily. Harvard gutted out 3-2 victories against USC, Pomona-Pitzer and Cal-Tech.

Even more astoundingly, Harvard's final match of the West Coast trip against Cal-Tech was decided in a spectacular fifth game. Harvard edged out the Techsters after an uncharacteristically lengthy game that ended 26-24, leaving the fans on the edge of their seats.

Early season losses give a team two choices: shape up or ship out. The Crimson chose to use early defeats as motivation to turn the season around and establish a new, winning trend in the Harvard men's volleyball program.

Indeed, for Harvard, the 1997 season was a story not of resignation, but of perseverance and endurance.