The Harvard men's volleyball team salvaged a 3-1 win against Concordia yesterday at Malkin Athletic Center, putting a slightly positive spin on what was an otherwise disappointing weekend. Concordia  1 Harvard  3 Princeton  3 Harvard  0 Vassar  3 Harvard  2

Earlier yesterday, the Crimson dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Vassar. Saturday, Harvard (9-6 overall, 2-3 EIVA) lost 3-0 to Princeton, the class of the Ivy League.

Harvard's play over the weekend could be summarized with one word: inconsistent.

Beginning with its game against Princeton, Harvard's performance ran the gamut from dominating to abysmal.

In the opening set against the Tigers, the Crimson jumped out to a 8-0 lead and looked to have the favorites on the ropes.

The lead, however, quickly dissolved as Princeton rolled back into the game with a combination of powerful hitting and Harvard miscues. The Crimson managed to push the Tigers to the limit in the first set, but it came up on the short side of the 16-14 score.

With the initial burst of inspired play behind it, the Crimson couldn't cope with the persistent Tiger attack and dropped the next two sets, 15-10, 15-5.

"Once we lost the first game we just went downhill," freshman setter Evan Beachy said. "That's been a problem for us all year. We lose our concentration if we lose the first game."

The Crimson came out the next day with renewed intensity against Vassar, a team which had beaten the Crimson 3-2 a month ago at the Vassar tournament.

The Crimson won the first set, 16-14, but it dropped the second set, 10-15--again. The Crimson's play rose and fell with the regularity of side-outs.

After winning the third set, 15-11, the Crimson found itself behind 8-13 in the fourth set.

Harvard managed to raise its level of play once again, and on the power of several crucial kills and blocks by sophomore outside-hitter Dave Cho, took a 15-14 lead.

The Crimson, however, could not finish off the Brewers, and the set slipped away as an errant Harvard pass gave Vassar the 17-16 win.

Vassar kept the momentum through the rally-scored fifth game and lay Harvard to rest with a clinching 15-10 win.

"The fourth game was really the turning point," captain Abbas Hyderi said. "We played a really long set and had a couple of chances to win it."

Poor passing by Harvard, who had changed its offensive system before the weekend matches, spelled its defeat to Vassar.

"We started going with one primary setter [Evan Beachy] instead of two," Hyderi said. "It was a hard transition for us."

"We had a lot of mental mistakes that resulted in serving and passing errors," Hyderi said.

The Crimson's final match against Concordia exemplified Harvard's varying play over the weekend.

Coming off the loss to Vassar, the Crimson came out without much intensity, and Concordia out-hit Harvard in the early going to take a 10-1 lead.

With freshman outside hitter Dave Olson leading the way, however, the Crimson managed to turn the eightpoint deficit into a three-point, 15-12 victory.

True to form, though, Harvard proceeded to drop the second set 15-11, tying the match score at 1-1.

Once again, the Crimson was able to turn its play around, and an unfortunate Concordia team got caught in the Jekyl half of Harvard's Jekyl and Hyde performance.

Harvard won the third set handily, 15-5, and buried Concordia, 15-5, in the finale.

Olson again provided much of the firepower from the outside and also plastered two aces in the final set.

"Dave Olson really came through for us," Hyderi said.

The Crimson will next take the courts against Rutgers-Newark on Sunday at Malkin Athletic Center.

Rutgers-Newark--the toughest opponent in Harvard's schedule--leads the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA).

Unfortunately for the Crimson, however, the losses to Princeton and Vassar left Harvard with very little chance of qualifying for the EIVA Tournament.

"The Rutgers match doesn't mean as much now," Hyderi said. "Since we're out of the EIVA Tournament, our goal now is to win the Ivies."