Crimson Falls At Home in Four Sets

Playing its first home matchup in nearly three weeks, the Harvard men’s volleyball team aimed at putting a stop to its recent four-game losing streak as it faced off against NYU at the Malkin Athletic Center on Friday night.

But despite an exciting win in the second set, the Crimson (7-10, 0-4 Hay) was unable to overcome the fierce offense of the Violets (15-7, 3-3 Hay) and lost, 3-1.

“We were disappointed we didn’t have any defense,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “That was the difference. They hit over .400, and we hit just over .200. You never win a volleyball match with that differential. We couldn’t stop them.”

The Crimson finished the match hitting .214, while NYU ended the night with almost double that, hitting .424.

“I think it’s safe to say it wasn’t our best game,” sophomore setter Rob Lothman said. “Everybody would probably say the same. It was tough gaining a little momentum today.”

And this was certainly the case for the first set.

Though the score remained close early on, by the middle of the set the Violets were able to pull away with a five-point lead, one which they held onto for the remainder of the set, winning, 25-18.

But Harvard came back strong in the second set, playing what was the most thrilling frame of the night.

With the score tied 17 times and the lead switching hands nine times, the two teams kept the fans on the edge of their seats the entire set.

Aside from a 7-3 Crimson lead at the start, neither team enjoyed another advantage greater than one point until the very end of the set.

That is when, after tying the score at 22-22, Harvard took charge, scoring the next three points to win the set, 25-22.

The Crimson had 15 kills contributed by six players—junior co-captain Matt Jones, Lothman, and freshmen Chris Gibbons, Michael Owen, Kyle Rehkemper and Nick Madden. It also finished the set with its highest hitting percentage of the night, .385.

Despite this, Harvard could not keep the momentum going into the third set.

The Crimson fell into an early 4-0 hole and was unable to climb its way out, losing, 25-15.

It made for the third straight set in which NYU hit over .500.

“We were working on defense a lot this week,” Baise said. “We had been blocking really well. In the beginning of the season that was really our strength, but we were struggling offensively. Our offense has gotten a little bit better, but our defense struggled tonight.”

In the fourth set, Harvard found a surge in its drive following its gain of an early 2-0 advantage.

Though the Crimson held onto the lead for most of the set, the Violets came very close to taking it at several different points and were never far behind, tying the score eight times.

But once again Harvard faced difficulty in holding onto its momentum, and after the final tie of the set at 19-19, the Crimson was able to take only one of the final seven points. NYU ultimately won the set, 25-20.

“We didn’t make some of the miscellaneous plays on defense that you need to beat a team that’s just as good as you are,” Lothman said. “So that allowed them to take the extra game.”

Though Harvard was able to make slight gains in its offense, with Jones and Rehkemper each tallying double-digit kills, the team still sees room for improvement in all facets of its game.

“We really just have to cut down on our errors,” Rehkemper said. “We made a lot of hitting errors, and I think our hitting percentage was pretty low for the match as a whole. We missed a lot of serves early on which we need to start nailing, because that’s just free points that you’re giving away, but other than that I think we played some good defense. There were some upsides to it, though; they just came out really hard, and we just weren’t able to match it.”