In its home opener, the Harvard women's volleyball team yesterday defeated Wheaton College in an inspired match that nailed down a 2-1 record for the Crimson.

Although the first two games of this three-out-of-five match made victory appear easy, with scores of 15-1 and 15-4, the hosts nearly lost control of the context in the third game. But with the score tied at 14-14, Harvard managed to eke out a third success, rallying to win back the serve, and defeating Wheaton by a mere two points.

Harvard Coach Ihsan Gurdal appeared pleased though not overly excited by the victory, commenting only the "the team played fairly well."

The close call in the final game certainly helped dampen his enthusiasm. Even when his squad came back from an 8-6 deficit for a 12-10 lead, he was visibly angry over its performance. The visitors eventually did themselves in with several our-of-play balls.

Prior to the math Gurdal mentioned that he foresaw a great deal of promise for his almost one-third freshman team. He indicated that although the defense and serving need work, his team has a lot of early-season spirit.

That spirit was evident from the first game of the match on. The opener was marked by excellent serving by Harvard's Kathy Yanelli, as well as some fine plays by sophomore Virginia White and junior Cathy Wong.

Even though Wheaton looked competent enough for its first game of the season, with some strong plays by Captains Tracy Woods and Nancy Whithers, Harvard clearly dominated. Although the visitors got in a few powerful shots, they generally lacked the synchronization and teamwork displayed by the Crimson.

Some sharp passes by Harvard's Linda Lockhart sparked the 15-4 rout in the second game.

The Crimson spikers seemed happy with their I.A.B. debut. Yanelli attributed their success in part to t he fact that "everyone felt a little more calm and confident" than at their first two matches Tuesday night at Boston College. Hitter Gerri Rubin felt that they definitely "showed improvement over their last outing," when they dumped B.C., 15-1 and 15-9 and fell to American International College, 15-1 and 15-10.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard's next games will be September 30 at a tournament hosted by UMass-Amherst, after which the Crimson will face several key Ivy opponents, especially Penn and Cornell.... Wheaton Coach Cindy Jacobson works in Harvard's financial and office.