It was not the same this year for the Harvard women's volleyball team.

Last year, in the final Ivy weekend with a chance to earn the regular season conference title, the Crimson (7-17, 4-3 Ivy) came through, defeating Yale and Brown to go 7-o in the Ancient Eight. HARVARD<  1 YALE  3 HARVARD  0 BROWN  3

Last weekend, with a 4-1 conference record and the same Possibility of winning the regular-season title, Harvard again faced Yale and Brown.

The result: two tough road losses. The first was a 15-8, 10-15, 15-8, 15-12 loss to the Bulldogs on Friday and the second a 15-10, 16-14, 15-12 defeat at the hands of the Bears on Saturday.

"They were heartbreakers," senior outside hitter Anne Schafer said. "They weren't doing anything spectacular. They were just consistent."

The Crimson, still playing without Katherine Hart and Angela Lutich, two mainstays on the front line out with injuries, managed just a .106 hitting percentage on the match.

The good news for the Crimson was that Linda Jellison, a junior outside hitter, has recovered from a severely sprained ankle to re-enter the Harvard lineup.

Yale 3, Harvard 1

In a battle in New Haven that lasted almost two hours, Harvard ultimately came up empty-handed.

"The first game started out great," Schafer said.

The Crimson stormed out to seven points while allowing just a handful of Bulldog points.

Then freshman hitter Erin Denniston went down with an injury, causing the Crimson players to lose their concentration, squandering the lead and ultimately losing 15-8.

"We were very concerned with her and we kind of lost focus," Schafer said. "It just really slipped out of our hands."

In the second game, Harvard came out strong and stayed strong to win 15-10.

"Basically, in the third and fourth games," Schafer said, "we were pushing each other, but we came up short. They established a tough block."

The third game ended with a 15-8 score in Yale's favor as Harvard could manage only seven kills on 34 attempts with six errors.