Seniors: Evan Beachy, Eric Lin, Kalon Morris, Ryan Oliver, David Olson, Jim Rothschild, Eric Wang
But if the Vassar Tournament was a peak, a valley was inevitably to follow, as the Crimson was overpowered Feb. 28 at then-No. 17 Princeton, 15-6, 15-6, 15-6. After a win over Vassar, Harvard lost its next four matches, including a pair of losses to the cream of the EIVA crop, No. 13 Rutgers and the No. 17 New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), assuring that Harvard would be out of the mix for EIVA postseason play.
The NJIT loss, a five-set heartbreaker, was particularly gut-wrenching since the Crimson took the first two games before losing the last three. The final set was a point-for-point thriller, which Harvard finally lost, 18-16.
After a couple of easy wins against unequivocally weaker teams Sacred Heart and MIT, Harvard prepared for its annual trip to California to tackle some of the nation's best programs.
It was the Californians who did most of the tackling, however.
The Crimson returned to Cambridge with a 2-4 record, losing to nationally ranked teams UC-Santa Barbara (No. 11) and Long Beach State (No. 6), twice to team it could well have beaten--Cal The trip was largely unsuccessful, but therewas still a chance for redemption. Harvard knew itcould compete with ranked opponents, and the IvyTournament gave it its final chance to prove itcould actually beat them. Harvard topped Cornell and Penn, while losingto Columbia, to advance to the Tournament finals.Harvard took the first set against the Tigers,9-15, before losing the next two, 15-7, 15-9. It was an improvement on the earlier 3-0 sweep,but Harvard still came up short. "Overall they were a more solid team," Pankausaid. "When it gets down and dirty, they have whatit takes to pull it out." Harvard had trouble finding that je ne saisquoi all season--whether it is physical ormental, a new cast may be precisely what thisproduction needs. The Crimson graduates sevenundeniably talented seniors who were never fullyable to make Harvard a talented team. "We never pulled it together and played asone," Pankau said. "We never had a chance to bondas a team. However, [next season] will be a newgeneration of Harvard volleyball. We have fourfreshmen coming in--at least one will have to be asetter. It will be a good thing to have completechange, because we've been struggling the pastcouple of years."