Spikers Clinch Division Title With 3-0 Whipping of Bulldogs

The Harvard men's volleyball team walloped Yale, 3-0. Saturday in the IAB to clinch first place in the Eastern College Volleyball League's New England Division and gain a berth in the league championship tournament.

The 15-6, 15-10, 16-14 victory lifted the Crimson's division record to 5-0, two games ahead of defending champion Springfield. The spikers close out the regular season when they host Springfield Thursday night.

Harvard played solid but uninspired volleyball--but then again, no inspiration was needed. The Crimson's workmanlike offense kept the Bulldogs out of the match, and the Harvard second string bested the Eli starters in the third game.

"From an aesthetic standpoint, it wasn't a great game," Harvard Coach Mike Palm said. "The games today were very routine."

For the first time this season, the Crimson put together a sound, fundamental performance without getting emotionally revved up for the match. Palm said this bodes well for the upcoming Ivy tournament. Teams can't maintain intense involvement throughout a tourney's many contests, so "you need to be able to win games in a routine fashion," Palm said.

Sophomores David Twite and Jon Tanaka spearheaded the Crimson offense, pummeling angle shots with regularity. After Yale jumped out to a 5-0 edge in the second game. Twite smashed two spikes past Bulldog blockers to inaugurate a 14-2 Harvard tear Twite connected six times during the rally, and Tanaka chipped in four kills of his own.

Setter Tom Houlihan, the only Crimson starter to take the court for the third game, tried his hand as a hitter. The senior co-captain found considerable success, drilling two of the match's best spikes down into the hardwood on the Yale side of the net.