Weekend Sweep Earns Crimson Tie for League Lead

While many college students spent their Spring Break soaking up the sun in Cancun or Cabo, the Harvard men’s volleyball team hit the road looking to build on its late-season success.

This past weekend, the Crimson (10-6, 5-1 EIVA Hay) defeated league opponents NYU (6-18) and Sacred Heart (11-7), putting Harvard in a tie for first place with Rutgers-Newark in league play and giving the Crimson a shot at the playoffs.

“This is the closest I have been in my career,” co-captain Brady Weissbourd said. “This is a really exciting team to be doing this with. We have a really good shot in the playoffs. It would be a great way to end my career.”

HARVARD 3, SACRED HEART 2

Less than one day after defeating NYU, the Crimson faced its second opponent in league foe Sacred Heart. Despite a lackluster performance, Harvard managed to leave Fairfield, CT., with another 3-2 (30-27, 25-30, 28-30, 32-30, 15-13) win.

“We didn’t play nearly as well,” coach Brian Baise said. “We were tired physically and emotionally [from the NYU match]. To get that win last night in the fifth game and to come in here and face a very good Sacred Heart team, we were just a little bit drained.”

Despite registering 19 kills and hitting .385 in the first set, the Crimson could not find any fuel for its offensive game. In the second and third sets, Harvard managed only 11 and 15 kills, respectively. This allowed Sacred Heart to take a 2-1 lead over the Crimson.

“[Sacred Heart]’s a really good team,” Weissbourd said. “They serve much better than NYU, actually. It was hard to come off a huge win and come back the next day to play an extremely focused game. In the end, we sort of got it into our heads that we needed this win just as much as we needed last night’s.”

But just when it looked like Sacred Heart would earn the victory, Harvard’s star players made just enough plays to keep the Crimson in contention. Weissbourd had his second 31-kill performance in two days, and junior setter Gil Weintraub was once again reliable on the court, dishing out 63 assists.

“Gil was able to keep the offense going even when we weren’t attacking very well,” Baise said. “Our liberos, senior Jeff [Nathan] and freshman Dan [Schreff], also made some very big plays.”

HARVARD 3, NYU 2

With over a week of rest since its previous game, a rejuvenated Harvard team found just enough energy to muster a 3-2 (28-30, 33-35, 30-26, 30-26, 15-13) victory over host NYU.

“It was a great match,” Baise said. “I thought it was really high quality volleyball for two and a half hours.”

“This was a huge game, and everybody had it on their minds for weeks,” Weissbourd said. “I don’t think I’ve ever beaten NYU at NYU in my career. They came out to play and they played really well.”

With the Violets taking a highly-contested first set, 30-28, the Crimson looked to rebound in the second set. Harvard gained an 8-5 lead over its counterpart after a kill by Weissbourd and consecutive attack errors by NYU. Just moments later, however, NYU junior hitter Michael Ferragonio carried his team right back with two consecutive kills to give NYU a slim 16-15 advantage. The two teams would trade points until a block by freshman Luke Hamlet gave the Violets another close victory.

Facing a 2-0 deficit, the Crimson changed its strategy going into the third set.

“We went back to focusing on fundamental things we needed to do such as defense and our transition game,” Baise said. “When we start to focus on the little things, we can build energy. We try not to look at the big picture—the fact that we’re down 2-0. We really wanted to take one point at a time.”

Harvard jumped out to another quick start in the third set, this time with a 7-3 lead. With another comeback attempt by NYU, the Crimson turned once again to Weissbourd. In a crucial stretch, Harvard’s go-to player provided two kills and two key blocks to pull the Crimson ahead 26-22.

“We put Brady on their best hitters, and that helped a lot,” Baise said. “He made it much more difficult for their star hitter [Devin Zolnowski] to attack. We started to serve much more aggressively, and it worked.”

Rookie Matt Jones finished things off with an impressive kill and service ace, giving Harvard its first set victory.

“We were down 2-0, and really our guys just buckled down,” Baise said. “Mentally, it was one of our strongest efforts of the year. It’s not easy to come down from 2-0. To the credit of our players, we climbed our way back into that match.”

Weissbourd once again had another impressive showing, registering 31 kills and a career-high 12-block performance.

“In a match like this, we turned to him in all aspects of the game, and he was here for us every time,” Baise said.

Jones played a solid role as well, notching 17 kills and seven digs for the Crimson.

After a 30-26 victory in the fourth set, Harvard found itself in a struggle for the match victory in the fifth set. Finally, after trading points back and forth, junior Erik Kuld slammed the ball down to give the Crimson the come-from-behind victory.

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