Harvard Splits Weekend Matches

The Harvard men’s volleyball team began league play by suffering a tough 3-2 (30-26, 30-28, 22-30, 22-30, 15-11) loss to NYU on Friday.

The very next day, however, it found itself on the winning side of the net with a 3-2 (26-30, 30-28, 24-30, 30-26, 15-13) victory over East Stroudsburg.

And though it was a bittersweet weekend for the Crimson (2-2, 1-1 Hay Division), the relatively young group at times played like a veteran team.

HARVARD 3, EAST STROUDSBURG 2

Despite being down, 2-1, after three games, the Crimson made just enough plays to ensure a victory against East Stroudsburg.

“I think that we learned a lot from yesterday’s loss,” freshman Matt Jones said. “Playing in that five-game match [against NYU] really set us well to play in Saturday’s match, which also went to five games.”

The team worked on improving its passing game.

“Coach [Brian] Baise wanted our passing to be more consistent, so that we could run a better, offense with more options,” Jones said. “Brady [Weissbourd] is our middle captain, and we wanted to set him up as much as possible.”

The Crimson managed to get the ball to its co-captain Weissbourd, who continued to display senior leadership, contributing 15 kills, six digs and six blocks in the winning effort. Rookie Nikola Ivica and Jones combined for 32 kills, while junior Erik Kuld put up consistent numbers of 16 kills and 15 blocks.

Harvard was able to come back from behind in the fourth set courtesy of Kuld’s three-straight kills which gave the Crimson a three-point advantage.
However, the Warriors would not relent. Led by Jon Daley’s match-high 22 kills, ESU traded point-for-point and closed in by cutting the lead to 26-29 until Weissbourd ended the game with a resounding kill.

“Our coaches said that Daley would be their best player,” Jones said. “We needed to block up on him. Our defense really focused on him.”

In the final game of the match, Harvard appeared to pull away from East Stroudsburg, as kills by Kuld and Weissbourd put the Crimson one point away from victory. Just two plays later, Jones sealed the victory with a kill and gave Baise his second victory in his first season as Harvard’s coach.

NYU 3, HARVARD 2

A rowdy and enthusiastic crowd showed up for Friday afternoon’s showdown between the two teams.

In its first game against NYU, Harvard relied on a variety of serves and good blocks from its front line to squeeze out a 30-26 win. From the get-go, Weissbourd and Ivica used their size advantage to fuel the Crimson’s offensive firepower with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, in the game. Jones also impressed, contributing 14 kills and one block.

“From day one, the freshmen have come in and been a really important part of our team,” Baise said. “They’re a big part of our offense and defense and they’re handling a big portion of our passing, which is hard, especially for freshman. They played with a lot of maturity and blocked extremely well.”

While Harvard registered 13 kills in the first game, it also committed 12 errors, the majority coming from net violations and service errors. This would prove to be the Crimson’s achilles’ heel throughout the entire match.

In the second game, Harvard found itself falling behind 16-21 before a tip by Jones—following a spectacular save by Ivica—ignited a rally by the Crimson.

The freshmen duo of Ivica and Jones continued to make plays, and Harvard would fight back to a tie at 28-28 before putting the Violets away 30-28.

Though NYU was down, 2-0, the momentum of the game would shift for good in the third game.

“I didn’t think there was going to be a momentum change at the time,” Baise said. “We played well the first two games, but they just kept getting to us throughout the match.”

The Violets, led by junior Michael Ferragonio and senior Devin Zolnowski’s combined 36 kills, found its hitting rhythm, registering team attack percentages of .133, .185, and a jaw-dropping .667 in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th games.

Meanwhile, the Crimson’s team attack would go downhill, hitting a low of .000 in the fourth game to go along with ten errors and only ten kills.

“We had a hard time getting the ball to the guys we wanted to,” Baise said. “We made a few too many errors. NYU really tightened up and we didn’t.”

Overall, Harvard would commit 11 more errors and register 12 fewer blocks than its opponent.

“It was definitely a tough loss to NYU,” Jones said. “It was a league game that we really felt that we definitely needed to win.”

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.