It could have been worse for the Harvard men's volleyball team. It could have lost to MIT.

Although Harvard ultimately prevailed in the battle of the Cambridge brains, MIT gave everything it had last night at MIT before falling to the Crimson in five games, 15-11, 5-15, 15-13, 10-15 and 15-12.

Three and a half weeks ago, Harvard trounced the Engineers in three games. This time, the only thing that was trounced was Harvard's spirit.

Losing to MIT in men's volleyball is like losing to Columbia in football, i.e. it hurts.

Harvard (18-2 overall, 6-1 Ivy) came into the match against MIT (8-8) without starters senior Albert Kim, who separated his left shoulder Tuesday night at Roger Williams, and sophomore Ned Staebler, who had a high fever.

"We had a couple of injuries, and a lot of young guys had to fill in," Co-Captain Cody Church said. "We seem to be in a typical Harvard slump with midterms and other things happening, but these all poor excuses."

Gurdal Unhappy

It was obviously a frustrating evening lot Harvard Coach lhsan Gurdal, who declined to make any comments after the match and held a closed-door meeting with his team that lasted for twenty minutes.

The three games Harvard won were all nailbiters. In contrast, MIT dominated the two games it won.

Harvard never trailed in the fifth game, but it also never led by more than two points until the final play. However, a key one-point penalty against MIT swung the momentum the Crimson's way with the score at nine.

MIT Co-Captain Daniel Alvarez--who used every delay tactic in the book whenever the Crimson had any momentum,--got caught with his serve down when he tossed the ball and let it drop on consecutive points.

NCAA rules stipulate that servers are only allowed one false serve per sequence.

With the one-point penalty, Harvard regained the serve and the lead. Although the Engineers managed to tie the score at 10, 11, and 12, Alvarez--MIT's strongest server--did not have another chance to serve again, and the Crimson rolled off the final three points for the win.

The second game, however, was a complete nightmare for Harvard.

After MIT won the first point and the two terms exchanged side-outs, the Engineers scored eight straight points on Alvarez's serve. MIT extended its lead to 10-0 and never looked back, pasting the Crimson 15-5.

Third Game

The third game also started out very poorly for Harvard, who trailed 11-8 at one point, but inspired plays by senior Per Dutton allowed Harvard to come back and win the game, 15-13. Dutton spent almost as much time on the ground as he did on his feet, diving for and saving several loose balls.

MIT stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth game and never trailed, winning it 15-10.

In the game, Harvard broke away from MIT only after the Engineers had cut the Crimson's 12-8 lead to 12-11. Harvard won the next three points to take the opening frame.