Rivier Controls Tempo and Secures Win

Facing a top-ranked team is always intimidating. But four dates with teams ranked at the top of their leagues just eight games into the season? Absurd.

The Harvard men’s volleyball team (3-5, 1-1 EIVA) took on its fourth top-ranked opponent in Rivier (21-1, 7-0 GNAC) last night at the Malkin Athletic Center and fell to the Raiders 3-0 (30-16, 30-19, 39-37).

Although Rivier may hail from the often overlooked Division III Great Northeast Athletic Conference, the team from nearby Nashua, N.H. demonstrated why it deserves to have the number one label next to its name in the NECVA poll.

“[Rivier’s] a really good team, with big middle hitters that can really hit the ball,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “They played really well on the outside and blocked extremely well.”

The Raiders dominated from the onset of the game, relying on flawless passing, powerful serves, and vicious kills to jump out to a 19-13 lead.

With recently-departed freshman hitter Nicola Ivica watching his former team from the stands, the Crimson made Rivier’s job look too easy, as it was unable to establish its offensive game. Making matters worse, the team also lacked a solid defense that could have made up for its offensive woes.

Harvard filled Ivica’s void by committee, relying on freshman Dan Shreff, senior Jeff Nathan, and sophomore Shaun Mansour to step up. Despite improving performances by the three players, it was difficult for the team to find its rhythm all night.

“It’s their third match with this rotation,” Baise said. “Jeff and Dan are doing a great job at the libero position. Shaun’s getting better, and we’ve been working on his blocking. I think we’re going in the right direction.”

Harvard committed a total of eight errors in the first set while the Raiders faltered only three times. A .500 team attack percentage propelled Rivier’s offense to a commanding 30-18 victory.

“Our serving and passing just wasn’t up to par tonight,” freshman hitter Matt Jones said. “They really got us out of position and we couldn’t handle a lot of their serves. I wouldn’t say that it was a lack of depth that had an effect on our offense tonight. Rivier just didn’t make as many errors and they served very well.”

“We felt that we had been playing really good defense coming into the game, but we didn’t do a good job tonight,” Baise said.

The second set was more of the same, as Harvard struggled to counter Rivier’s offensive prowess. Whenever it appeared that the Crimson would be poised to come back, Raider sophomores Jeff Andreozzi and Austin Soucy and senior Scott Wright remained steadfast, blocking efficiently and finding ways to pull their team ahead for a 30-19 victory in the second set. The standout trio led Rivier with 11, 11, and 12 kills, respectively. On the other side of the court, Harvard finished the set with a dismal .034 hitting advantage.

At one point during the second set, junior Matt Ferreira screamed, “It’s too easy!” to his teammates on the bench. Not surprisingly, the excessive celebratory rituals Rivier put on throughout the match received shouts of disapproval from the Crimson faithful.

Harvard, however, would not give up in the third set without a fight. Facing elimination, the Crimson began feeding the ball to Jones, who provided kill after kill to give Harvard an early 10-4 lead. Jones finished with 14 kills on the night.

“We kept going to him,” Baise said. “He did a great job. It’s nice to see a freshman step up in a situation like that. He’s been working really hard and he came through tonight.

Jones’s counterpart on the right end of the net, co-captain Brady Weissbourd, stepped up as well, finishing the game with a match-high 21 kills and six digs. But both players’ performances would not be enough, as the Raiders climbed right back into the set by taking advantage of more Harvard errors. The set would remain heavily contested throughout, as each team traded point-for-point, until a service error by Weissbourd and an attack error by Jones gave Rivier the set, 39-37, and its 21st victory of the season.

“We couldn’t get our ball to our hitters in the first two games,” Baise said. “The third game, we started to settle in and pass the ball better, but whenever you have an off-serving and off-passing night, it makes it really tough to win.”

The Crimson has a week off before facing league-rival Rutgers-Newark next Saturday at home.

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