The Harvard women's volleyball team lost a nail-biter to Yale in five games last night at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Eleven missed serves--four of them by strong-hitting Co-Captain Peri Wallace--spelled doom for the Crimson (8-7 overall, 2-2 Ivy), as the Elis squeezed out a 15-12, 8-15, 15-7, 14-16, 15-12 victory.

Harvard Coach Wayne Lem was extremely disappointed with his squad's mental errors that spoiled an otherwise strong effort.

"We gave them the first and third games," Lem said. "And in the fifth, we got the lead and blew it. We're 75 percent of the way to where we need to be and the other 25 percent is mental."

"For now, we have to improve on our serving," Lem added. "It's been a thorn in our side for seven matches--until it's taken care of, everything else is secondary."

The Crimson showed spurts of intensity, overcoming a sluggish start to take the second game convincingly. It lost an early lead in the third game before rebounding to win a see-saw battle in the fourth.

It seemed as if Harvard had the match in hand as it cruised to an 8-3 lead in the final game. The Bulldogs crawled back into the game, finally taking the lead for good at 13-12. Harvard staved off defeat with several side-outs, but a case of miscommunication put the Crimson away.

"The last point was a perfect example of our problems," Lem said. "The ball dropped right between two players. Someone has to take charge."

Lem has been happy with the continual improvement of the team, but not with the time it is taking.