Harvard's volleyball club lost a heart-breaker to the Springfield College varsity last night, 3-2.

The Crimson started out slow, dropping the first game 11-15. In the second game they came out fighting, amassing a 14-8 lead before poor net play and fundamental ball handling errors allowed the Chiefs to come back and win the match 17-15.

In the third game the Crimson took a breather, destroying Springfield's second-stringers 15-4.

Terry Trumbull and Co-Captain Tom Houlihan led the Crimson to a 16-14 victory in the fourth game.

The spikers set Houlihan up for some devastating shots into the corner, while Trumbull controlled the nets and the aggressive Crimson defense denied Springfield the chance to set up its offensive plays.

The Crimson players never sat down between the fourth and fifth game. Keyed-up as they were, from the first serve they played not so much with an over-abundance of emotion as a lack of cohesion and control, continuing to make errors and miss easy points.

Trumbull made several spectacular saves and then ignited a surge that took the team from a 9-4 deficit to a 12-9 lead.

All the while, intense Harvard Coach Roger Martin exhorted his players to make "points guys, come on and make points."

Springfield came back to tie the score at 13-13, and as the pressure mounted, the Crimson began to lose control not to mention the game, 15-13.

Harvard is attempting to move up a notch and qualify for the East Coast Volleyball League, of which Springfield is a member.