Crimson Picks Up Key Non-Conference Victory

Home sweet home.

Under the leadership of first year head coach Brian Baise, the Harvard men’s volleyball team landed its first victory of the season over the Stevens Institute in its home opener at the Malkin Athletic Center on Saturday. After dropping its first contest to the fourth-ranked Ducks, the Crimson came out ahead in the next three games for a 3-1 win overall (23-30, 32-30, 30-27, 30-27).

“Once we had a game under our belt we felt a lot more comfortable,” junior co-captain Gil Weintraub said. “We have a home crowd and we use it to our advantage. Once we started rolling, the Crimson in motion stays in motion.”

In the first game, Stevens dominated both sides of the court, posting a .600 attacking percentage and jumping up for seven blocks. After nabbing an early lead, the Ducks kept up its momentum to shut down the Crimson, 30-23.

“Despite the statistics, they play a very different tempo than we’re used to,” senior co-captain Brady Weissbourd said. “They hit 600, but a lot of it was sort of tips and off-tempo stuff. They did catch us off our guard. It took us a game to adapt and be on our toes. [But] the next three games were great.”

Harvard rallied in the second contest, starting off with an 8-5 lead over Stevens. But the Crimson couldn’t break away, and both teams remained neck and neck, keeping within two points of each other for most of the set. With the game tied at 22, Harvard finally shot ahead, capitalizing on Stevens’s errors to secure the lead, 27-22. The Ducks managed to narrow the scoring gap to 28-26, but Weissbourd slammed down a kill to take the Crimson to game point, 29-26.

“[Brady]’s our anchor,” Weintraub said. “He uses his height and his skill to his advantage. He’s pretty much unstoppable.”

But Stevens wouldn’t give up without a fight and tied the score at 29, sending the game into extra points. Another pair of Duck errors doomed Stevens’s offensive efforts, and Harvard nailed the win, 32-30. In addition to Weissbourd’s five kills, freshman Nikola Ivica slammed down five of his own to lead Harvard in the second set.

“Nikola is a big dude…he’s about 6’6 on the outside,” Weintraub said. “As long as I do my job right there’s nothing stopping him. He’s got all the shots.”

The Crimson’s offensive momentum carried into the third set, as it seized an early 6-3 lead over the Ducks. Stevens trimmed the margin to one point, 8-7, but Harvard kept up the fight and battled to a 30-27 victory.

The Crimson continued its dominance in the fourth set, opening the contest with a 4-0 run. Both teams traded points until the Ducks pulled ahead to 10-9, but Stevens’s scoring advantage didn’t last long, as Harvard reclaimed the momentum, 13-12. The lead changed hands again when the Ducks slipped ahead to a 19-18 advantage. But the Crimson took control of the lead one last time and held on for the win, 30-27.

Although the Ducks managed to outblock Harvard, 13.5-10 overall, and recorded higher hitting percentages in three out of four games, Stevens’s 18 service errors hindered its performance and assisted the Crimson in its offensive onslaught. Harvard, on the other hand, slammed down seven service aces and only had 13 service errors overall.

Ivica led the team with 22 kills and 10 digs overall, while Weissbourd tallied 19 kills and seven digs. Freshman Matt Jones recorded 12 kills and six digs, and junior Erik Kuld notched 10 kills and seven digs. Junior co-captain Gil Weintraub anchored the offense with 63 assists.

Harvard returns to the Malkin Athletic Center to face NYU on Friday and East Stroudsburg on Saturday in its first conference events.

“[This win] bodes well for us because Stevens took down NYU twice already fairly easily,” Weintraub said. “I think the fact that we matched up well against Stevens bodes well that we’ll match up against NYU as well.”

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