Four-Match Losing Streak Halted

Winning the first two games of its match against Princeton (1-11, 0-7 EIVA Tait) last Saturday at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Harvard men’s volleyball team (7-5, 0-3 EIVA Hay) seemed ready to put the Tigers to rest.

But with a huge momentum swing, Princeton clawed its way back to take the next two frames.

Down halfway through the fifth game, 7-3, the Crimson mounted a major comeback, taking the final frame, 15-10, and winning the match, 3-2.

“We got hot, and we were all fired up,” said freshman outside hitter Chris Gibbons of Harvard’s late comeback. “They couldn’t catch us.”

Coming into the match on a four-game losing streak, the Crimson started out with aggressive play, taking advantage of the Tigers’ overpasses and weak middle to build an 18-12 lead.

Gibbons furthered this lead with a streak of five serves, including an ace, that carried Harvard to a nine-point advantage.

The Crimson’s domination of the first frame was sealed with a kill slammed right down the middle of Princeton’s defense from junior outside hitter Matt Jones, winning the opening frame, 25-16.

“We passed well early. We were able to run the middle really well against them,” Jones said.

In the second game, both Harvard and the Tigers started off by taking advantage of the other’s overpasses and missed serves.

With the greatest point-difference in the frame only being four—in Princeton’s favor—the game was defined by constant side-outs from each team.

The Tigers gained the 24-23 advantage and were poised to take the game, when Gibbons slammed a deep cross-court kill that tied the score at 24.

The back-and-forth play continued until Jones produced a kill that gave Harvard the advantage.

The next rally, the freshman team of outside hitter Michael Owen and middle blocker Nick Madden went up for a crushing block that gave the Crimson the win, 29-27.

“The first two games, I really thought we played as well as we had all season,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “Our serve-receive and passing [were] much better.”

The third game found Princeton playing with more fire, jumping out to a 10-5 advantage.

Though the hosts recorded 17 kills to the Tiger’s 11, a number of errors from missed passes and serves caused the Crimson to lose its momentum.

Princeton’s freshman outside hitter Jeff Stapleton, who recorded 19 kills over the course of the entire match, provided the spark for the Tigers to top Harvard, 25-22, in the third frame.

“A lot of it was passing and hitting errors,” said Jones of the team’s loss in the third game. “They started blocking a little better, and we didn’t adjust really well.”

The Crimson’s messy play continued into the fourth game, with Harvard recording more errors than kills.

Princeton broke away from the Crimson at 9-9, notching seven unanswered points and 16 kills to Harvard’s six.

The faulty Crimson defense and serve-receive allowed the Tigers to win the game, 25-21, and knot the match, 2-2.

“We really had them there in the first game, and then we started to let up later in the match,” Gibbons said. “With a team like Princeton, you really can’t do that.”

Harvard’s struggles continued at the start of the fifth frame.

The defense was not reading blocks and gave the Tigers the opportunity to jump ahead, 7-3.

The turning point of the match came when the Crimson changed its play at the net.

Strong blocking from freshman middle blocker Kyle Rehkemper and another down-the-line kill from Gibbons sparked a rally, and Harvard grabbed its first advantage at 9-8.

The Crimson did not look back, completing a 12-3 run that won the game, 15-10, and clinched a 3-2 victory. The win snapped a four-game losing streak.

“When we got down in the third and fourth games, [coach Baise] just came out and told us it’s whoever wants it more,” Gibbons said. “We weren’t going to lose this match, and that’s what made the difference.”