The critics said that Harvard's third-place Ivy League finish was a fluke last year.

They said this year the Crimson would finish fifth or sixth.

They said Harvard was too small.

They were worng.

Last night at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Crimson (7-6 overall, 4-0 Ivy) defeated Dartmouth, 15-11, 15-0, 15-6, and Yale, 15-7, 16-14, 12-15, 11-15, 15-8, to remain in a first-place tie with Princeton and Brown.

Harvard's four Ivy wins are the most ever for the Crimson during a regular season.

After winning the first set by only four points against the Big Green, the Crimson wasted little time in bringing Dartmouth back to earth. Harvard blasted the Big Green in the next two sets to win its third straight Ivy match.

After its tune-up match against Dartmouth, the Crimson faced a much taller Yale squad.

But like Goliath went down to David, so did Yale to Harvard. The result--a record fourth Ivy win.

Where are the critics now?

"We had some stellar play all around," Co-Captain Manda Schossberger said. "Beating Yale was amazing. Everybody played well. This should give us some momentum heading into the Princeton and Penn weekend."

"That was a great match," Captain Maia Forman said. "It feels great beating Yale. Our front-line played very well. Nicole [Anderson], Peri [Wallace] and Jenny [O'Shea], and Manda had great games. We're looking forward to the Penn and Princeton matches this weekend."

Roar

In the first set, Yale jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Crimson rallied back to tie the match at 5-5.

Anderson blocked a spike attempt at the net for a side-out for the Crimson. Harvard made the most of it, outscoring the Elis, 9-2, to win the first set.

During Harvard's run, the Crimson received some stellar play at the net from Anderson, Wallace and O'Shea.

The second set featured some more outstanding play on both offense and defense for the Crimson. After falling behind, 5-3, the spikers rallied to take a 7-6 lead.

Although the Elis pulled ahead, 14-10, Harvard would not die. Wallace, Burger and Schossberger provided the spark for the Crimson.

The comeback was something to behold. Schossberger first spiked a Yale return, then scored off a beautiful tandem play. Burger recorded a cross-court kill, follwed by an ace from Wallace.

Four plays, four points.

Harvard continued to live up to its reputation as a scrappy team. The Crimson provided some exciting digs and incredible saves en route to its win.

Down 2-0 in sets, Yale quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set, and increased it to 10-1 before the Crimson rallied. A side-out led to an ace by Mari Rodriguez, and kills by Burger, Anderson and Danni Cunningham. Anderson and Schossberger both added blocks to close the deficit to 10-8.

"We're so excited to beat Yale," Burger said. "We played great. We had a few mental lapses in the third and fourth sets, but we got things back together and played a great fifth set."

In the fifth set, Harvard dominated the set, playing almost perfect volleyball. Harvard blocked, passed and hit well. Harvard pulled out to an 10-4 lead in the final set. Yale managed to close the defecit to 11-8 before the Crimson captured the match.

"Everybody did great," said O'Shea, who was outstanding at the net. "We got everything together and played some tough defense."