Playing its first conference opponents of the year, the Harvard men's volleyball team continued its solid start to the season.

The Crimson (3-1, 1-1 Hay) defeated LIU-Southampton 3-1 on Saturday, but fell to Vassar, 3-0 (30-18. 30-28, 30-28), on Sunday.

Vassar 3, Harvard 0

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The Brewers (5-4, 2-2) used a balanced offense and solid defense to dominate Harvard in three games and hand the Crimson its first conference loss of the year.

Vassar used a .474 team hitting percentage, as opposed to the Crimson's .250, in the first game to dominate Harvard, 30-18.

The second game was much closer, and the Crimson and Brewers battled for 58 points. Harvard improved on its hitting percentage by raising it to .333, but Vassar still managed to post one of .419, and the Brewers took the second game, 30-28.

The third game was equally as close, with the Crimson seeking to extend the match to a fourth game. However, Vassar quickly cut short the Crimson threat, and its defense lowered Harvard's hitting percentage to .188. The Crimson could not find a way to solve the Brewer block and fell, 30-28.

"Vassar has incredible team unity," freshaman middle blocker Juan Carlos Cardet said. "Even on the points that we dominated, they would not let down their guard."

Vassar was led by senior Samuel Shweisky, who recorded 12 kills, and junior hitter Dave Paine, who had 10 kills in 17 attempts for a hitting percentage of .529. Setter Jeff Barr had 43 assisrs for the Brewers.

The Crimson was led by co-captain Justin Denham, who led all players with 19 kills and two service aces.

Cardet continued his solid play to start the season, posting 12 kills in 20 attempts to lead all players with a .550 hitting percentage.

Harvard recorded 20 digs as a team, while the Brewers had 17.

Harvard 3, LIU-Southampton 1

The Colonials (5-3, 3-1), who had already defeated Vassar 3-0, suffered their first league loss of the year at the hands of the Crimson on Saturday.

Harvard was led by the play Denham and Cardet, who recorded 19 and 13 kills, respectively, in the Crimson's 3-1 victory.

"Southampton has a very tall line-up," Cardet said. "Their block is very imposing, and Justin [Denham] did a great job in finding the holes."

With the victory, the Crimson brought the Colonials back to the pack, and opened an opportunity to climb into first place.

Harvard's next opponents is this Wednesday against Roger Williams at the Malkin Athletic Center.

The Crimson will continue Hay division play over the weekend, when it travels to East Stroudsberg and St. Francis.