Some may think that the best time of the year comes with Selection Sunday and the March Madness of NCAA college basketball.

Think again. Fire up the pools one more time. April Insanity is here and the seedings for the NCAA/EIVA Eastern Regional Men's Volleyball tournament have hit the nation. (O.K. April Insanity just isn't that catchy. How about April Aberration. Or maybe April Abnormality. You make the call).

Anyway, the Harvard men's volleyball team has secured a spot for itself for the second time in four years, and things are looking good down at the Malkin Athletic Center.

"We're just all really excited about getting to play in the tournament," senior Esson Lin said. "This has been a storybook season for us."

A Blessing in Disguise

Despite winning the Ivy League Championship last weekend, however, Harvard has been given the number 11 seed.

That's number 11 out of the 12 teams that are playing in the regionals this weekend.

So you'd think that maybe this would be kind of a slight to Harvard sports, and the volleyball team would take offense.

But that's not how the Crimson sees it.

"The team thinks its a blessing in disguise because we won't have to face Penn State in the second round," Lin said.

Instead, Harvard travels to Arlington, Va. to play sixth-seeded Juniata in the first round of the tournament. If it defeats Juniata, Harvard will face third-seed George Mason in the second round.

Penn State, the number-one seed, has one of the most feared teams in the nation, and the Crimson is glad it won't have to face the Nittany Lions until the championship.

Harvard players said they are confident about the team's ability to send Juniata home early.

"I definitely think Juniata is beat-able," Lin said. "We lost to them last year, but we're a better team this year."

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