M. Volleyball’s Win Streak Snapped at 13

All good things must come to an end. But the Harvard men’s volleyball team was just a swing or two away from defying the laws of the universe.

In a closely-fought battle Friday night at The Golden Dome in Newark, N.J., the Crimson dropped a thrilling 3-1 (32-30, 30-26, 29-31, 30-25) contest to EIVA conference rival Rutgers-Newark—losing for the first time since Feb. 1.

With the win, the Scarlet Raiders (12-12, 7-5 Tait) brought an end to the Crimson’s impressive 13-match win streak.

“We haven’t lost in a long time,” said sophomore setter Dave Fitz. “I feel sick to my stomach a little bit.”

At many times in the match, Harvard stood on the verge of taking control. In both the first and fourth games, the Crimson (13-4, 9-2 Sweeney) had a chance to swing the momentum its way, but miscommunications on offense prevented it from succeeding.

“It was just our dumb mistakes that were sort of the deciding factor in the match,” said junior middle hitter John Freese. “If we just shore up our game, we can beat these guys.”

One of these pivotal moments came in the first frame. With the Crimson leading 30-29, Harvard was poised to put away the game and take an early 1-0 lead.

After a successful Crimson dig, however, a passing error by Harvard gave Rutgers the point. The Scarlet Raiders would take the next two points as well to steal the frame from the Crimson.

“We had a swing for game point, but we let it drop,” Fitz said. “[The Scarlet Raiders] found their way back.”

Harvard let the fourth game slip away as well. On the strength of junior middle hitter Seamus McKiernan—who led the team with 29 kills, 15 digs, and five blocks on the night—the Crimson started off the frame passing and hitting well.

But as the game progressed, the errors came back to haunt Harvard. After coming out blazing, the Crimson ended up with only a .240 hitting percentage for the frame as it stumbled to a 30-25 defeat and its second conference loss of the season.

“[Rutgers] plays with the best teams in the Tait [division],” Freese said. “And the games we lost, we lost by very few points. We just played sloppily—we had 10 more errors than they did.”

The other two games of the match were representative of the offensive inconsistency that plagued both teams throughout the contest.

In the second frame, Harvard hit at a .417 clip, but the Scarlet Raiders pounded at a .571 rate to vault past the Crimson 30-26.

By contrast, neither team could find its rhythm in the third game. Although Harvard only posted a meager .195 hitting percentage, Rutgers practically gave the frame away with a .146 rate of its own. Still, the Crimson would barely escape with a 31-29 victory to keep the match alive for one more game.

Despite the shaky offensive performance, what Harvard took away from the contest was the fact that it was able to compete against one of the premier teams in the conference.

“This is the best team we’ve played all season,” Fitz said. “But we were able to stay with them point for point.”

This confidence will serve the Crimson well in the weeks to come. Following the match against conference foe St. Francis this Friday—rescheduled from March 12—Harvard will began preparations for the EIVA playoffs.

And while the team will be the underdog in the draw, the players feel that their battle against the Scarlet Raiders is proof that they can play with the best.

“We have the players, we have the talent,” Freese said. “We can definitely go deep in the playoffs—whoever we draw.”

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