The Crimson’s comeback was decisive. The referees were not.

The Harvard men’s volleyball team rallied from an 0-2 deficit to force a winner-take-all fifth game before finally falling 31-29, 30-28, 26-30, 27-30, 15-11 to Sacred Heart at the Malkin Athletic Center yesterday.

With the Crimson (1-1) trailing 11-10 in the tiebreak, junior opposite Russ Mosier appeared to even the game with an overhead kill. But with the scoreboard glowing 11-11 and Harvard moments from serving, a pow-wow convened at the tower of the up referee. After a 30-second discussion, the point was taken from the Crimson and awarded to the Pioneers.

Trailing 12-10, Harvard could not recover.

“There were a lot of calls reversed, and that kind of upsets momentum,” co-captain and setter Mike Bookman said. “Both teams felt that way. The key in volleyball, though, is not to let yourself get lulled into mental errors by things that happen off the court.”

Both Bookman and Harvard coach Rob Keller were visibly frustrated with the flurry of late calls throughout the match. Though Keller did not contest the calls, the timeliness bothered him.

“The up referee today was very tentative with his whistle,” Keller said. “It didn’t affect the outcome of the match, but it just affects the rhythm.”

After unforced errors led to heartbreaking losses in games one and two, the Crimson finally got into a groove, seizing the momentum in the third game.

Harvard jumped out to a 10-4 lead behind four kills from co-captain middle blocker Alex Kowell, but Sacred Heart battled back to pull the score to 21-19.

Harvard rallied for the next two points on kills by Kowell and junior outside hitter Juan Carlos Cardet, and the Pioneers did not pull closer than three points for the rest of the game.

In the fourth game, the Crimson again rushed to an early lead, stretching the advantage to 18-11 on a Cardet kill.

However, an overhead slam by Pioneer Matthew Snyder and back-to-back kill errors by sophomore outside hitter Will Reppun pulled the score to 18-14.

But Harvard rebounded to take four of the next five points. A soft drop shot by Cardet over the head of Sacred Heart middle Michael Gardner gave the Crimson a 22-15 lead and forced the reeling Pioneers to call a timeout.

Sacred Heart played inspired volleyball after the timeout, rallying to within one at 28-27 on a kill error by Cardet.

But Harvard came through with a powerful kill by freshman middle John Freese to move the score to 29-27.

On the next point, a great dig by sophomore libero Juan Ramos helped set up Reppun’s game-winning kill.

“The effort was phenomenal,” Keller said. “We really gave the first two games away with a lot of unforced errors, but then we stepped in and did what we had to do.”

Reppun, with 19 kills, was one of five Crimson players to post a double-digit total. He also had a .368 hitting percentage.

“My job is to distribute the ball to the right guy at the right time,” said Bookman, who had a match-high 68 assists. “It’s a testament to the talent on this team that we have five guys with double-digit totals.”

Cardet led all players with 21 kills, but his aggressive style also led to 14 kill errors and a mediocre .143 hitting percentage.

Mosier (13), Freese (13) and Kowell (10) were the other players with double-digit kills while Ramos led the defense with 12 digs.

The statistics show a team with multiple offensive weapons.

“I think we have nine incredible athletes on this team, and I think we have all the capabilities to qualify for the NCAA tourney,” Bookman said.

The Crimson have not advanced to the post-season since 2000, Bookman’s freshman campaign.

Harvard will have to continue its quest for the post-season on the road. The Crimson next plays at MIT on Thursday at 7 p.m. in what will be the first of a five-game road trip.

Harvard returns to the MAC on March 1 to host Springfield at 7 p.m.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.