SEASON RECAP: Men's Volleyball

When the Harvard men’s volleyball team started off the season with three straight losses, the squad knew that it was just a matter of time before it reversed its bad fortune.

The Crimson did not foresee, however, just how drastic that reversal would be.

Two months later, Sweeney Division champion Harvard stood at 13-3, looking anything but beatable.

“We knew looking at the schedule that the beginning of the year was going to be tough for us,” Crimson coach Chris Ridolfi said. “But for the guys to rebound and [win] thirteen in a row, that just shows that they had their heads on straight.”

For the past few seasons, the talent had been there. What hadn’t been there was a positive working atmosphere.

But Ridolfi developed relationships with the players and put them in a system that supported and inspired them.

“Last year, we didn’t want to go to practice,” sophomore setter Dave Fitz said. “It wasn’t fun. This year, we really enjoy playing—we want to be good.”

And good they were. Harvard’s 13-match win streak included a 6-0 record against Sweeney Division opponents as well as victories against teams in the Hay and Tait, the other two divisions of the EIVA conference.

The most impressive contest of the season came March 6 against NYU, a member of the top-tier Tait Division. Though the Crimson dropped the first frame, it took three of the next four games to thwart the Violets’ comeback bid and extend its winning streak to nine.

With a 3-0 defeat of Sweeney foe NJIT the following day, Harvard clinched the division title with over a month left in the regular season.

“That weekend against NYU and NJIT was the high point of the season,” Fitz said. “To win a close, intensive five-game match and then win 3-0 to clinch the title—that’s just awesome.”

The Crimson owed much of its success to the emergence of junior Seamus McKiernan as an effective middle hitter.

Formerly an outside hitter, McKiernan quickly adapted to his new position and became a dangerous weapon for Harvard. A member of the EIVA second team All-East, the middle hitter was the Crimson’s go-to player down the stretch.

“You know if you set Seamus the ball, fifty to sixty percent of the time, he’s going to kill it,” Fitz said. “For me, as a setter, that’s a great safety net to have.”

Even McKiernan, however, could not save Harvard in the EIVA playoffs against then-No. 3 Penn State.

While the Crimson was able to trade points with the Nittany Lions initially, the team that eventually went on to the Final Four proved to be too much to handle for Harvard.

Nevertheless, the Crimson players took a positive outlook on the season.

“Our program is on the rise,” Fitz said. “We’re just going to try and establish a credible team here at Harvard.”

In 2005-06, while Harvard will have to deal with the departure of its seniors, it will be returning a nucleus of experienced players, including McKiernan, Fitz, and senior-to-be middle hitter John Freese.

With the emergence of current junior Luke McCrone as a solid outside hitter and the addition of a few key recruits, the Crimson looks poised for a repeat as division champion.

But with the merger of the Hay and the Sweeney divisions next year, the parity in the EIVA conference will only increase.

“We’re capable of beating any of these [EIVA] teams, but we’re also capable of getting beat by any of these teams.” Ridolfi said. “We’re just going to have to do our work and then see what happens.”

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