Crimson Stalls in Final Game Versus New Haven

Three times the Harvard men’s volleyball team has gone to overtime and three times it has come out the loser.

New Haven (18-6, 6-4 EIVA) stopped the Crimson’s (10-10, 7-3) win streak at seven, winning in five frames (30-22, 20-30, 26-30, 30-27, 9-15) at the Malkin Athletic Center last night.

In the fifth game, Harvard was plagued by the run, a problem it has faced all season long.

After playing point for point up to a 6-7 deficit, New Haven won four straight points, which in a game up to 15, the Crimson could not recover from.

Harvard looked fatigued, and it showed in one kill and five errors for -.400 hitting in the frame, which led to an insurmountable deficit and the 15-9 loss.

“It’s something that’s plagued us all year, giving up points in spurts,” captain John Freese said. “I think we just had a couple of balls not go our way and instead of siding out like we should after a ball doesn’t go our way, we let a couple of points go, and that really killed us.”

The Crimson seemed to have the momentum going into the fifth after winning the fourth frame 30-27 in comeback fashion.

Falling behind 10-7 early, a combined 12 kills from McKiernan and McCrone led the team to pull ahead at 13-12 and never trail again.

The attack was aided by junior setter Dave Fitz who led the game with 53 assists.

“We just did what we were supposed to do in the fourth game that enabled us to pull away,” Harvard coach Chris Ridolfi said.

In the fourth part of the night’s contest, the Crimson recovered from its woes during the second and third games, something which no one would have foreseen after watching the first frame.

Jumping out to a 7-1 lead, the Crimson dominated, hitting .438 with 17 kills and just three errors.

Although New Haven attempted a comeback later in the game, Harvard never led by less than five on its way to the 30-22 victory.

“We were very excited and pumped up for the game and we came out and played like it,” Freese said. “We played with more passion than we had all season long.”

But in the second game, everything changed.

After falling behind early 3-5, the squad remained in reach of the newly energized Chargers thanks to three kills from senior captain Seamus McKiernan.

Although McKiernan led the team with a game-high 23 kills on .341 hitting, his effort could not keep the Crimson from giving up a 7-1 run in the middle of the game that cost the squad.

In the end Harvard hit .000 for the frame and was overall outplayed on its way to the 30-20 loss.

“We were here for a long time, and we couldn’t sustain it in the second,” Ridolfi said.

The third seemed an improvement with Harvard jumping out to an early 5-2 lead on two kills from McCrone, who finished the day with 12.

The game was never out of reach for the Crimson, who came as close as 27-25, but with two blocks and a kill New Haven pulled out to the 30-26 victory.

“We actually played pretty well in spurts, and we need to build on that,” Freese said.

Harvard will have its chance to rebound Friday against Lees-McRae at home in the MAC.

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