Springfield Takes Down Volleyball

Just two weeks ago, the Harvard men’s volleyball team hosted Springfield coming off its first victory of the season. But the Pride halted the Crimson’s win streak at a single game, taking the match, 3-0.

Last night, Harvard travelled to Springfield, Mass., riding another one-game winning streak and, once again, Springfield made sure the streak ended there.

Playing at Blake Arena, the Crimson (2-12, 2-1 EIVA Hay Division) was unable to bounce back from an early 2-0 deficit, as the visitors dropped the match to Springfield (13-7, 3-4 EIVA Tait Division), 3-1.

Despite being outscored by 14 points in the first two sets, Harvard mounted a comeback, winning the third set and taking the fourth to the wire.

“We found some energy,” co-captain Erik Kuld said. “It was definitely a fun match at the end.

In the match’s final set, the Crimson had four opportunities to force a fifth set, but came up short on each attempt.

Harvard’s first set point came with the Crimson holding the 29-28 advantage following a kill from sophomore Nicola Ivica. But the Pride’s Greg Falcone answered with a kill of his own, evening the score at 29.

Harvard found itself up by a point a second time, this time courtesy of a Springfield attack error. But the Pride’s next attack attempt was successful and the score was knotted once again, this time at 30.

Up 32-31, the Crimson looked to close out the set with freshman Rob Lothman behind the service line. Springfield managed to control the serve, and then set up Eric Shoemaker for the kill.

Harvard took back the lead, going up 34-33 after a block from Ivica and senior Soren Rosier. But the Pride managed to hold on one last time, getting another kill from Palumbo to regain the momentum.

AJ Nally gave Springfield the lead for good, finishing off a set from Eric Shoemaker to take the 36-35 lead.

The Pride closed out the match following an attack error from sophomore Matt Jones.

“We had several opportunities to capture the set,” co-captain Gil Weintraub said. “In the end we couldn’t close out. That’s what it comes down to.”

Despite the disappointing ending for the Crimson, Harvard managed to improve on its previous matchup against Springfield, in which the team was unable to take a set from its opponents.

Last night, the Crimson used its familiarity with its opponent to take the third set.

“We were a bit more familiar with what was going to come at us,” Kuld said. “We did work on blocking a certain play that they do a lot of. I think it paid off.”

Harvard closed out the third set using a 5-0 run to overcome a 29-26 deficit. Ivica got the run started, working off a set from Lothman to come away with the kill. Three straight Pride attack errors put the Crimson ahead, 30-29.

Kuld captured the set for Harvard, notching a kill for the 31-29 victory.

But it was too little too late, as the Crimson was unable to dig itself out of the early 2-0 deficit.

Ivica led Harvard for the second-straight game, finishing with 19 kills and nine digs.

“[Ivica’s] really playing out of his head right now,” Kuld said. “He’s really found his rhythm, and it’s fun to watch.”

Despite picking up its 11th non-conference loss of the season, the Crimson maintains its position in third place in the division standings and primed to make a splash in conference play. With a victory over NYU (3-13, 0-4 EIVA Hay Division) this Saturday, Harvard could vault into the second spot in its division.

“We know Saturday’s going to be a huge game for us,” Weintraub said. “We know that we still have opportunities to succeed.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.