Harvard Tops MIT for Eleventh Win

The first game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament won’t tip off until noon today, but it was certainly March Madness last night at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Despite facing a hostile crowd in its own gym, the Harvard men’s volleyball team staved off a resilient MIT squad and defeated its cross-town rival for the second straight year. The 3-1 (30-32, 30-25, 30-19, 30-28) victory increased the Crimson’s impressive win streak to 11.

“We’re rolling, but we’ve segmented the season,” Harvard head coach Chris Ridolfi said. “What we did in those last 10 matches is irrelevant to us now. Right now, we’re 1-0 in our run.”

The Crimson’s defensive effort was led by senior outside hitter Will Reppun. Still trying to return to full strength after recovering from an arm injury, the captain played both libero and outside hitter and contributed a team-high 10 kills.

“This guy was All-Hawaii Player of the Year, and just got a couple of fluke injuries that kept him out,” said junior middle hitter Seamus McKiernan. “Will’s definitely been our spiritual leader the whole season, and now he can be the leader on the court.”

At first, it seemed as if Harvard would coast through the fourth frame. The Crimson picked up leads of 7-1 and 22-15, tossing in kills and aces with seemingly little effort.

But McKiernan had to leave the match with a minor shoulder injury, and the Engineers took advantage of his absence, going on 10-5 run to pull within two.

With the score at 27-25, Ridolfi made a situational substitution, putting Brian Rapp in to serve.

The plan backfired, however, as Rapp’s attempt sailed long.

MIT exploited the mistake, taking two of the next three points to tie the game at 28.

With the Engineer fans on their feet, MIT junior outside hitter Michelangelo Raimondi floated in a swerving serve. But Harvard dug the ball and passed it perfectly, setting up a kill down the right side by junior middle hitter John Freese.

The Crimson put the nail in the coffin when junior outside hitter Luke McCrone followed with a kill that rolled off the net and dropped to the floor—securing Harvard’s narrow 30-28 win.

“[MIT] had a lot of fans, but I think we play well under pressure,” McKiernan said. “But we’ve got to get more of our own fans in—they brought more than we had.”

Since Saturday’s match against conference rival St. Francis had been cancelled, the Crimson—coming out of a ten-day layoff—was a little rusty in the first frame.

Though Harvard jumped out to a 7-1 margin and then held the lead for the first 37 points, the Engineers drew even at 19.

The teams traded points for the rest of the game, with neither team leading by more than three.

Ridolfi substituted Rapp in to serve with the score knotted at 30. But the move was to no avail, as consecutive kills by MIT closed out the frame, 32-30.

“We had been looking toward the St. Francis game as the biggest game of the season,” McKiernan said. “That getting cancelled kind of deflated us, and we had a long hiatus—we had too long of a rest. MIT was fired up in the first game and caught us off guard.”

Though the loss caused some bickering among the Crimson players, they managed to collect themselves for the second game.

The frame started off close, but Harvard took 12 of 19 points to push its lead to 22-15.

Although the Engineers went on a mini-streak of their own, the Crimson was able to hold off the MIT surge and escape with a 30-25 victory.

The third game tilted heavily in Harvard’s favor.

Led by Freese—who had five aces and 11 kills on the night—the Crimson went up by an 18-12 margin and coasted to a 30-19 win.

But the rout was just the calm before the storm, setting up the thrilling finish.

“The best thing [the players] did tonight is they kept their heads after losing the first game,” Ridolfi said. “I’m proud of the character they showed.”

–Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.