The Harvard men's volleyball team proved a season ago that it had what it takes to be a contender. The Crimson took Princeton to a decisive third game, even winning the first, in the best-of-three Ivy League Tournament final, before falling to the Tigers.

This season, with a year's experience under its belt, a team stocked with vengeful seniors and greater team cohesion, was supposed to be different.

It was not. Harvard (15-15, 1-3 EIVA) closed out a roller-coaster season with a three-game loss to No. 12 Princeton in the Ivy Tournament finale, just a few games shy of the upset that could have made the careers of seven seniors.

"It was pretty important to us to win" said sophomore co-captain Ed Pankau. "It was out last chance to play together."

There is something poetic in Harvard's .500 record, an indicator of precisely how inconsistent this team was all season. At times they could hit with some of the best teams in the nation; at others, they were unable to execute against weaker opposition.

"The season went like the Ivy tourney did," said senior Kalon Morris. "Sometimes things went well and sometimes we couldn't put anything together."

The season started sluggishly, as the Crimson dropped matches to several teams they expected to beat, such as SUNY-New Palz, LIU Southampton and NYU.

But Harvard proved soon thereafter that when it played to its potential, weaker opponents need not apply. The Crimson rebounded from back-to-back losses to Southampton and NYU by cleaning up at the Vassar-hosted Burgundy and Grey Invitational Tournament, Feb. 20-21.

The Crimson took home the tournament championship, losing just one set in four matches, a 3-1 win over Jersey City State and 3-0 skunks of Queens College, NYU and Mount St. Vincent's. The only reason the Crimson even lost a game was because it started its second stringers in the first match.

"We played with a lot of confidence and composure against teams that have beaten us in the past," said co-captain A.J. Lewis after Harvard's tournament win. "Our blocking and serving got much better."

Queens College is a traditional volleyball powerhouse, and NYU showed a week earlier that it could pose a challenge. But Harvard's hitting percentage improved dramatically, and two players--junior middle blocker Evan Mager and senior setter Evan Beachy--earned All-Tournament honors.

"When we got into the final, we didn't have a question in our minds that we were going to win," Lewis said. "We played to our potential for the first time this season."

Record: 15-15, 1-3 EIVA

Coach: Ihsan Gurdal

Highlights: Finish second at Ivy League Tournament