In a turbulent season full of ups and downs, the Harvard men's volleyball team found itself repeating the past this weekend.
The Crimson split two matches in a weekend road trip that ended league play The Crimson hopes to use this weekend as a tune-up for a series of matches in California at the end of the month. Harvard 3, Queens 2 Yesterday afternoon, the Crimson was able to garner its first division victory after six EIVA-Hay losses. Harvard came back from a lethargic start to win in five games, 15-11, 5-15, 10-15, 16-14, 15-13. It was the last league match for the Crimson's two seniors, who avenged Saturday's difficult loss to NYU. "During the match, we had a timeout that really put things into perspective for us," co-captain A.J. Lewis said. "We had a lot of upperclassmen playing for us during the match, and it was really great to have all [the players] rally around us for the win." The Crimson came away the winner in the highly contentious first game. With Harvard trailing to Queens 11-9, Lewis subbed in to score four consecutive points off his serve to grab a 13-11 lead for Harvard. Harvard lost the next two games, however, and found itself scrambling for answers. Well-placed Queens serves quickly placed the Crimson at a disadvantage. "Their strong serving really put us in the hole during the second game," said freshman outside hitter Paul Guilianelli. In the fourth game, Harvard was able to hold Queens at match point at 14-10 three times. Senior middle blocker Evan Mager then served four consecutive points to tie the game at 14-14. The Crimson went on to win the game, 16-14. "I was sitting on the bench [during the fourth game], and I was getting ready to pack up because I thought that the match was pretty much over," Guilianelli said. "But then Evan Mager really started to pick things up for us and gave us some great serves, and everything started going our way." In the fifth and final game, Harvard trailed by the score of 8-5 until the two teams switched sides. Although rally scoring games are usually obstacles to teams that are looking to come from behind, the Crimson went on to win the fifth game, 15-13. "I was pretty impressed that we were able to pull it out in five games," Mager said. "Earlier in the season, we wouldn't have been able to come back after losing the second game, but we were able to come back and win the match." "[Queens] was a pretty up-and-down team," Guilianelli said. "They were waiting for the momentum to pick them up, but it was pretty inconsistent. It was a very streaky match for both teams." NYU 3, Harvard 1 The Crimson's win yesterday erased the sting of Harvard's loss to NYU the day before. Read more in Sports
