Ill Pickle
The Hawks rallied to tie the game at 14-14. Roger Williams scored next, but Valasek answered with in emphatic slam.
The score was 15-15. But the Hawks took the next two points, closing out their third straight defeat of the Crimson, ironically, on a mishit by Valasek.
After coming so far to lose by so little, the Crimson couldn't help but wonder if the services of senior outside hitter Brian Ehrlich, who missed the match with an ankle injury, could have put Harvard over the top.
"We're still smarting because of the loss of Ehrlich," Berg said.
But when the pressure was on, the Hawks adapted better to the fifth game's Ping-Pongesque rally scoring. which allows a team to win a point on its opponent's serve.
"We love rally scoring, that's our game," Jannitto said. "The guys eat that pressure up."
The Hawks had a feast.