M. Spikers Stumble Through '96

It didn't take long for things to start going wrong for the Harvard men's volleyball team.

In the first game of the team's first match, sophomore Dave Olson strained his right quadriceps muscle. A key weak side hitter that could consistently hit good spikes, Olson wasn't at 100 percent again for the rest of the season.

That was a microcosm of the season for the Crimson (5-15). There was potential for Harvard to play good volleyball, but from day one, things went the wrong way.

In the that match, Harvard lost to Dartmouth for the first time ever, 3-0. The Big Green, a club team, beat the Crimson on two later occasions, just to show that it wasn't a fluke.

In other words, this season just wasn't happening for Harvard. It wasn't until mid-February, halfway through the season, that Harvard coach Ishan Gurdal finally decided on a setter, putting former back-row-specialist and co-captain Abbas Hyderi on the second hit for good. Sophomore Evan Beachy had been the full-time setter, and then Beachy and Hyderi switched off in the 6-2 offense before Hyderi took over full-time.

What this meant was that Harvard never had consistency. With all the injuries (along with Olson, junior co-captain Dave Cho missed most of the year with arm troubles) and lineup switches, the Crimson was never able to get a firm foothold on the makeup of the team. It was almost like the team had to mentally begin the season every couple of weeks.

Other teams didn't have to do that, of course, which helps explain the high loss total. From February 14 until March 5, Harvard went 1-7, with the only win coming against a real terrible Yale squad. Things weren't going well at all.

By the time the Ivy League Tournament came at the end of the season, however, the team could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Olson and Cho were healing, and it looked as though the team maybe, maybe, could start to click.

The Ivy Tournament divides the eight teams into two pools, and as luck would have it, Harvard got stuck in the tougher pool, with the second-through-fifth-best teams in it.

The Crimson barely lost the first match, losing to Cornell 16-14, 15-8, and then trounced Penn, 15-4, 15-3.

That set up a do-or-die match with Dartmouth, but Harvard's season ended just like it began. Dartmouth won a thrilling match, 15-13, 15-10, and Harvard's season was over.

Harvard Sports Stats 1995-96

Men's Volleyball

Record: 4-14

Ivy Tourney: 1-2

Head Coach: Ishan Gurdal

Captains: Abbas Hyderi '95-'96, Dave Cho '97

Other Key Players: Ryan Oliver '98, Jim Rothschild '98, Evan Beachy '98.