It was more of the same for the Harvard women's volleyball team this past weekend.

The Crimson (3-12) fell in three straight matches at the Husky/Asics Invitational held at northeastern. INDIANA STATE  3 HARVARD  2 DENVER  3 HARVARD  0 HARVARD  2 NORTHEASTERN  3

The performance, which included two five-game losses, extended the Crimson's losing streak to five. That five-game streak is separated from an earlier six-game losing steak by only a win over Manhattan two weekends ago.

Improvement is difficult because the Crimson is having a hard time fingering the reason for all the losses.

"I am not going to excuse it in any way," co-captain Kate Nash said. "We've come close to a lot of tough teams. It is partially due to a tough schedule, but it's hard to say what else."

In the match on Saturday, the Indiana State Sycamores triumphed 9-15, 15-11, 15-8, 7-15, 15-13. In the second match, played yesterday, Harvard fell to Denver 17-15, 15-13, 15-8.

Later yesterday, Northeastern defended its home turf by defeating Harvard 15-11, 15-17, 15-6, 15-17, 15-11.

Harvard's anticipating heading into the weekend made it all the more difficult.

"Basically it was frustrating in that we were looking to this weekend to be a dramatic turnaround for us," said senior outside hitter Anne Schafer. "We played very, very well. In terms of our level of play, we did have a turnaround."

Harvard played without two of its top players, junior outside hitter Linda Jellison, out with a sprained ankle, and sophomore middle hitter Katherine Hart, who is nursing a stress fracture in her foot.

"They are two of our strongest players," Nash said. "But it is more important to note is that other people stepped up and filled in those gaps.

"The team is very deep. We have a lot of not only experienced players but also a lot of talented players."

Indiana State 3, Harvard 2

Indiana State was a long way from Terra Haute, but the Sycamores stood tall against the Crimson attack.

In the first game, Harvard was out-dug (19-14) and out-killed (10-9) but came away with the game victory, 15-9.