Better late than never.

The Harvard men's volleyball team proved that adage true yesterday as it defeated withstood a mid-match rally to defeat Sacred Heart 3-2 in Fairfield, Conn.

The Crimson (11-8, 1-6 EIVA) arrived late--only 20 minutes before the start of the match--but still managed to jump out to a 2-0 lead and hang on after a Sacred heart comeback forced a fifth game.

"Really, we should have won this match in three," said co-captain A.J. Lewis. "We won the first two games commandingly, and then something happened. At points, it looked like we were two different teams out there."

The Crimson got strong defensive efforts from Lewis, who finished with 18 digs, and junior outside hitter Joe Herger, who added 17. Herger leads the nation in dig average at 2.73 per game, while Lewis is fourth at 2.57.

Co-captain Ed Pankau had a match-high 20 kills and senior middle blocker Evan Mager added 16 to go along with six solo blocks and six block assists.

But in what has become an all-too familiar scenario, the Crimson allowed an inferior opponent to hang around, dropping games three and four 15-11 and 15-4 before finishing the win in the deciding fifth game, 15-7. Harvard took a 2-0 lead on MIT last Wednesday before coughing up the third game in an eventual 3-1 win.

"This reappears a lot," Pankau said. "We take care of the opening games pretty solidly and then we let up because we start thinking too far ahead."

Lewis said that hecklers at Sacred Heart's home court also factored in the brief comeback.