Volleyball.

The quintessential beach sport, in ieviatably conjures up images f summer days, pounding staff and burning sand.

There's a certain element of play-fulness and fun to it, no matter how gruelling or vicious the game. You aren't likely to see the players beating each other up in this sport. Nor is shee audience likely to be particularly bloodthirsty Superstar players don't abound, either.

The focus of the gamee, really, is on the team rather than the individual. Volleyball is about the coordination of team members. And if you're captain, responsible for ensuring the team gels, it's possible you're people-person.Maybee kind of like senior men's volleyball captain Johnthan J. Carpenter.

Carpenter meets me outside the doors of Eliot Dining Hall for lunch. He spots the tape recorder in my hand and identifiess me first> He is tall and lea; casually dressed in a gray sweater and chinos.

We stand in line-it's Junior Parent's Weekend, after all-and the talk is about music. He says he has diverse tastes, but British music (Blur is mentioned) truly stops traffic. Carpenter himself, a native of North Caloifornia, is half-British.

We sit at a table by the window, it's a sunny winter day, so bright the snow outside seems to glitter. I begin by asking Carpenter about the team, and he gives me a quick history of its evolution.

"The volleyball program used to be kind of a minor program; it wasn't taken too seriously by the Athletic Department," Carpenter says. "until last year, when seven seniors just turned the team around.

"We called them "The Magnificent Seven," he says. "For the first time in nine years, Harvard won the Ivy League Championships. I remember lying on the floor of the court after that game, exhilarated."

I ask Carppenter if he feels a greater responsibility now, as captain, to perpetyate the legacy of the "Magnificent Seven." He agrees emphatically, and says he tires very hard to ensure that the team members live up to the high standards set by their predecessors.

We talk about the Crimson's prospects of winning the Ivy League Championship this yea-the tournament kicks off in early April.

"I think we have a good crack at it," Carpenter says. "The individuals on the team have come a long way, there's been a lot of individual improvements, and we've put it together in spurts.

"It's mostly a consistency issue," he adds. "So far, we've beaten all the teams we expected to, like Yale, MIT and Dartmouth, The next step is to beat teams we're evently matched with or who are more experienced.We have a month until the championships how and only one goal, so we're going to be really focused."

We head next to Carpenter's suite, which he shares with nine other roommates. Carpenter's room has a warm and cosy ambience.Maybe it's the large farmed photos of smiling people Carpenter met on his summer of '92 trip to Kenya. Or perhapss it's the African cotton wrap in rich primary colors-featuring dancing yellow pineapples and a thought-provoking Swahili proverb that hangs across one wall. Carpenter tell me Kenya is a special place for him, because of its people.

"It's the beauty of the people there that I love," Carpenter says. "Never in my life have I ever met more frienfly folk..these complete strangeers, who are so interesting, and who are legitimately interested in you, just come up and talk to you."