The Harvard women's volleyball team entered the 11th annual Ivy League tournament with one goal: to finish in the top four.

Harvard left the tournament with that goal accomplished. It finished third, two points away from the tournament final.

"We gained a lot of respect after the tournament," Co-Captain Maia Forman said, "and we established ourselves as one of the top teams in the Ivy League."

"I'm happy with the progress we've made in two short years," said second-year Harvard Coach Wayne Lem. "The way we played in the tournament has definitely given us respect from the other teams."

Although Harvard entered the season with a talented team, its prospects were uncertain. One question remained: could the Crimson compete with the Ivy's top teams?

The Crimson promptly responded with its best season ever, finishing with an 18-11 mark, and it was finally able to play competitively against Penn and Princeton, winners of 10 of 11 Ivy titles. Harvard was one of three Ivy teams to take a set from Penn during the regular season.

Harvard followed up the Penn and Princeton matches with its first triumph over Brown since 1984. The Crimson captured a five-set upset over the Bruins in Providence four weeks ago.

The Ivy League champion is decided by a double-elimination round-robin tournament, not regular season records, and the final standings are decided by the teams' records in the tournament.

After recording stunning victories over Yale and Cornell in the Ivy tournament, Harvard advanced to the semifinals for the first time in the history of the sport. In one of the most exciting matches of the year, the Crimson lost a 13-15, 4-15, 15-2, 15-13, 15-13 heart-breaker to eventual Ivy champion Princeton.

Surprisingly, only one Harvard player was named All-Ivy (Forman snagged second-team honors). Left off the list were Jodi Cassell, Manda Schossberger, Lee Polikoff, Pascale Jean-Louis and Suzie Tapson--all legitimate candidates.

The Ivy League Coach of the Year Award went to Penn's Joe Sagula, who turned the Quakers from the championship team of 1986 to the runner-up of 1987.

Apparently, the selection committee (made up of other Ivy coaches) did not consider Harvard's Lem, who turned a 5-16, fifth-place Ivy program last year to a 18-11, third place unit this year.

"Wayne is definitely our Coach of the Year," Forman said. "If he hadn't come along, I don't know where the program would be now. He puts in so much effort and time into the program. He really cares about the program."

Forman received second-team All-Ivy honors for the third consecutive year. The junior setter is just the second Harvard women's volleyball player to be named to the All-Ivy team since the award was created in 1978.

"I think its obviously all politics," Cassell said. "Maia is defintely the best setter in the Ivy League. Three Ivy coaches even said so. In our whole team's opinion, she could have been the tournament MVP. There is no question that she should have made the first team."

"Not only is she the best setter in the Ivy League," Cassell added, "but she is also a great defensive player and server."

The Crimson will lose four players from its team--seniors Callie Huber, Jean-Louis, Tapson and Cassell.

But there are 12 players returning next year--four juniors, four sophomores and four freshman. The Crimson will rely heavily on the leadership abilites of Forman and sophomores Schossberger, Polikoff, junior Susie Nemes and freshman Carolyn Burger.

Over the last three years, the Crimson finished seventh, fifth and third, respectively, in the Ivy League Tournament. If the pattern continues...