In Cakewalk Against Non-Conference Foe, Crimson Hones Its Skills

An easy opponent on Friday night set the stage for a tough matchup for the Harvard men’s volleyball team on Saturday afternoon.

Despite struggling early in each game, the Crimson rolled to its sixth straight victory, defeating non-league foe Wentworth in three frames (30-23, 30-24, 30-18) at the Malkin Athletic Center.

Harvard spent most of the game practicing on-court situations and trying different rotations, rather than focusing on the Leopards’ attack. But that did not detract from the squad’s overall level of play.

“I thought it was a good game for us,” co-captain John Freese said. “We have a big game tomorrow and we played well. We already had some momentum, having won a few games, so this just kind of keeps that going.”

The first frame started off slowly for the Crimson.

Despite three kills from freshman middle hitter Brady Weissbourd, Harvard was matched almost point for point by Wentworth (4-22) on the way to a tie score at seven points apiece.

“Wentworth plays hard,” Crimson coach Chris Ridolfi said. “When you play rally scoring, a point for everything, we serve a ball out they get a point, or we hit a ball out they get a point. They make a couple plays because they play hard, so they stay in the game.”

But thereafter it was mostly Harvard.

Thanks to key kills from Weissbourd, co-captain Seamus McKiernan, and sophomore Jordan Weitzen, the Crimson pulled ahead, 20-13, and never led by less than five on the way to the 30-23 victory.

“In the flow of the game we never were in danger and we never felt like we were in danger,” Ridolfi said.

The second game was similar to the first.

After trading points to start the game, Harvard pulled ahead 12-11 on a back-row kill from Weitzen, who led the team with nine on the day.

But the Leopards were not done.

They battled for the next few points, even taking the lead at 19-18 and again at 22-20; but the Crimson attack was too much.

After three kills from Freese, the squad took the lead and pulled ahead, moving on to the 30-24 victory.

“It sounds kind of cliche, but we all played really well,” Freese said.

The third frame fared better for Harvard.

Pulling out to a quick 4-1 lead on a kill from sophomore Jamie Crooks, the Crimson never trailed on its way to the 30-18 victory.

Every Harvard player saw action in the match, including freshman Jeff Nathan, who came in as a libero in game three.

“Everyone works hard in practice, so we want to give them some opportunities,” Ridolfi said.

Additionally, Brian Rapp added a few assists after taking over at setter for the aching Dave Fitz.

Fitz contributed to the attack with 32 assists in the match, but in the latter half of the third frame, lingering pain from his earlier ankle injury reappeared.

The Crimson finished the game on a 9-1 run, thanks to kills from Weitzen and Crooks and overall dominant play.

“By then we knew we were going to win and we were having fun out there,” Freese said. “That’s what this team needs to do well—be really confident, know we’re going to win, and have a lot of fun. If we do that, we’ll kill teams.”

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.