Crimson Crushes Chargers in Last Road Test

Serving up a double dose of defeat, the Harvard men’s volleyball team completed a season sweep of New Haven (7-8, 0-5 EIVA) last night in front of 83 fans at Charger Stadium in New Haven, Conn., dominating the Chargers by a 3-0 score, winning 30-23, 30-27, 30-26.

It was the second win in a row for the Crimson (9-5, 5-5 EIVA), a team that has played well of late—in sharp contrast with the four-game losing streak that marked the end of last year’s campaign. With the win, Harvard also wrapped up play in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA).

“It was really hard to get pumped up for this game,” junior Jamie Kroops said. “They’re a lackadaisical team, and we had a hard time staying awake in the first game.”

The Crimson started off slowly in the opening contest, with both teams trading points throughout the beginning of the match. But Harvard edged the Chargers when it went on a solid run, taking a clear lead for the first time in the match.

“We started playing at their tempo,” co-captain Dave Fitz said. “Brady and Andy were on fire and couldn’t be stopped. The serving was really solid. We found the person on their team who, when we tried to serve, passed poorly.”

The players Fitz mentioned, sophomore Brady Weissbourd and senior Andy Nelson, have paced the Crimson all year. Entering last night’s match, they ranked one and two on the team in attack percentage, respectively.

Though the score was still close, when Harvard reached 22 points, the team went on a run that sealed the win, eventually coming out on top with a 30-23 victory.

On the first play in the second game, the Crimson’s intensity overwhelmed the New Haven defense, as Weissbourd’s hits sparked a Harvard run that ultimately clinched the victory.

“Brady asked me to set a little higher, and so I passed a little off the net,” Fitz said. “Brady hit extremely hard and smacked a defensive hitter in the face. That energized us and started us on an eight point run. Brady…was just a monster.”

Weissbourd also thwarted the Chargers’ attempts to halt the Crimson in its tracks, slamming two more blocks during that run. With Nelson serving, Harvard managed to pull far ahead, building a lead of six points after being down by five. Hammering out a total of 10 kills on 11 swings overall—with just a single error—Nelson was “on fire,” Fitz said.

But New Haven gained on the Crimson, narrowing the gap as Harvard’s passing broke down toward the end of the game. Yet the Crimson still managed to keep a grasp on the lead, overpowering the Chargers in a 30-27 win.

Harvard was in command from the very beginning of the third game. With junior Jordan Weitzen serving, the Crimson jumped to an early 7-1 lead over New Haven. Freshman Gil Weintraub took over as setter for Fitz, but as soon as that switch came, however, New Haven began to play more aggressively.

“They started tripping and roll-shotting, just hitting stuff as hard as they could, playing dirty, scrappy volleyball that we weren’t looking for,” Fitz said.

After the "jolt" provided by the Chargers, Harvard regained momentum, playing back to its strength in the middle to regain control and overpower New Haven by a 30-26 score that sealed the win, the team’s eighth of the season.

Three more home matches await the Crimson before the start of the EIVA tournament, slated to begin April 17. With so little time before postseason play, the team understood the significance—even against a relatively easy opponent—of playing its final game away from Harvard before the “must-win” portion of the schedule.

“This was our last EIVA match, and we won it, which was nice for the seniors,” Fitz said. “It’s our last away match, our last time riding home on the bus, and it’s a lot sweeter to win than to lose.”

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.