Although Roumain graduated after Pankau's junior year, Santa Ynez managed to win its third CIF title in as many years. Of course, Pankau defers credit for the team's performance to Witt. However, he fails to mention the impressive offensive and defensive contributions he made his senior year that led to his being recruited by several top volleyball colleges.

But with all of his athletic accolades in high school, Harvard's academic focus would seem like an unlikely choice.

"My sister had come to summer school here three years ago and the East Coast had always intrigued me," Pankau said. "Harvard kind of placed itself in my lap."

Luckily for Harvard, fate steered Ed Pankau to Cambridge. When he arrived in the fall of 1996, though, Harvard men's volleyball was not even on the map.

Joe Herger, a four-year teammate of Pankau's at Harvard, remembers the anonymity of their first year well.

"We were, for all intents and purposes, a club team with Division I status," Herger said, "No one even knew Harvard had a varsity men's volleyball team."

Not only was men's volleyball at Harvard poorly recognized in 1996, but it was also poorly funded. In Pankau's first two seasons, players on the team were expected to buy their own jerseys, shoes, athletic bags and airline tickets. By all accounts, the men's volleyball team was not the highest priority for the Harvard Department of Athletics. Also, the Crimson was perennially at the bottom of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA), which made recruiting top players difficult.