Crimson Comes up Short of Hay Crown, Playoff Position

Close just doesn’t cut it.

Falling one spot outside the EIVA playoffs, the Harvard men’s volleyball team failed to advance to postseason play for the third consecutive year. The Crimson finished its season 9-10 overall and 6-4 in the Hay Division, coming in third behind Springfield and New York University (NYU).

“We started off really strong—we showed a lot of potential,” sophomore setter Gil Weintraub said. “Unfortunately, as the season went on, with injuries and such, I don’t think we were able to realize our full potential in the end.”

The Crimson began its season on the right foot by overpowering its first three opponents, notching its first season-opening victory since 2004 with a 3-2 win over non-conference foe Rivier. Keeping up its momentum, the Crimson defeated its first two league opponents the following weekend, tallying back-to-back sweeps of Rutgers-Newark and Sacred Heart.

But Harvard failed to continue its winning streak against league rival and eventual Hay champion Springfield, whose performance boosted it into a new division next season. The Crimson nabbed an early one-game lead against the Pride, topping Springfield with a score of 30-16, but the Pride roared back and took the next three games for a 3-1 victory. Harvard’s slump continued with a 3-1 loss to Endicott on Feb. 12.

Though the Crimson managed another sweep against Rutgers-Newark in the Golden Dome Classic, Harvard fell in the following match against non-conference Mount Olive, the first in a three-game losing streak that threatened to spoil the Crimson’s chances for postseason play. With Weintraub and sophomore middle hitter Soren Rosier sidelined due to injury, Harvard couldn’t keep up against Newbury. Even with the return of its full lineup, the Crimson was unable to overcome league foe NYU in a five-game loss.

Harvard turned things around with a sweep against New Haven, which gave it the momentum to tear through both Stevens and Johnson & Wales by 3-0 scores. After Springfield lost to NYU, Harvard seemed to be back in the race for the Hay Division title.

But the Crimson’s winning streak was short-lived, as a 3-0 loss to St. Ambrose set it back yet again. Harvard continued its downward slide against Springfield, Mount Olive, and MIT. With the loss to Springfield and only three more games to go, the Crimson effectively eliminated itself from playoff consideration.

“It was a little bit of a disappointing loss, obviously, because they’re the first place team in [the] conference, and this is a game we had marked on our schedules ever since we lost to them earlier this season,” junior Jeff Nathan said after the match against the Pride. “We gave a good effort—we just got outplayed. They were just a better team that night.”

And though Harvard yielded only one of its remaining conference matches, a 3-0 loss against NYU, the Crimson’s efforts weren’t enough.

Harvard did go out on a high note: in the final game of the season, which doubled as Senior Night, the Crimson swept New Haven, 3-0, at home.

“I’m really proud of how our team developed,” Weintraub said. “We really did become a team. Even though we didn’t win all the games we wanted to, we played a lot better as a team, we moved the ball around a lot better, dug ourselves out of a lot of point deficits, and we learned how to rally around each other. It’s really going to help us next season.”

Though the Crimson is losing three graduating seniors—opposite hitter Jamie Crooks, libero Brian Rapp, and outside hitter Jordan Weitzen—much of the Crimson’s core will be back again next year.

Junior Brady Weissbourd slammed down an average of 3.78 kills per game and had a season hitting percentage of .439, while sophomore Erik Kuld paced the Crimson offense with 4.05 kills per game, the 19th-highest mark in the country.

Weintraub was No. 1 in the country with an average of .564 serving aces per game.

“You really hate to see starters leave you, but when seniors leave, that opens up the opportunity for younger guys to step it up, and I have 100 percent confidence in our rising sophomores and incoming freshmen,” Weintraub said.

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