Harvard Sweeps Saints in Midweek Matchup

The Harvard men’s volleyball team was able to breeze by cross-town foe Emmanuel College for its second straight 3-0 victory Wednesday night at the Malkin Athletic Center.

The Crimson (8-2, 2-2 EIVA) rode strong play from its outside hitters in the middle of each set to break away from the Saints (4-4, 4-1 GNAC). Co-captain outside hitter Matt Jones dominated with a match-high 14 kills, while freshman DJ White chipped in eight kills to lead Harvard past Emmanuel.

The Crimson used its size advantage as well as excellent service game to put pressure on the Saints early in the contest. The two teams tentatively traded points until sophomore hitter Nick Madden was able to grab a key kill, pushing the score to 10-9 and capturing the momentum for Harvard.

“Going into this match we definitely knew we were a bigger team,” Madden said. “Because of that as well as our serving we were able to attack, which was key in the win.”

The Crimson followed up Madden’s kill with a 10-3 run, which was marred only by an injury to freshmen starter Caleb Zimmick. Zimmick, who is 10th in the nation in blocks per set at 1.23, came down hard on his ankle, but was able to walk off of the court unassisted. Sophomore Will Chambers moved over to replace the injured Zimmick as Harvard kept its focus through the injury and closed out the set, 25-14.

But Emmanuel refused to give up and fought Harvard to a stalemate at 9-9 early on in the second set.

Freshman outside hitter Ashanti Jackson tested Harvard early for the Saints leading his team with high-energy play.

“They played well,” said Harvard co-captian libero Dan Schreff of the Emmanuel lineup. “They are a young team with a ton of potential.”

But with the score even, Jones took over. The senior hitter, who is ranked second nationally with 4.23 kills per set, sparked Harvard with another mid-match run to put the Crimson ahead, 20-11.

“The middle portions of the games are key, and we were able to maintain our focus in both [of] those first two games,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “We allowed them to make the errors and did not respond with errors of our own. We got some kills and blocks that really helped too.”

The Crimson’s momentum cooled off as Emmanuel came out of a timeout with a quick 4-0 run, but Harvard was able to overcome some communication errors to finish the set, 25-15.

“When we started getting sloppy our captains would come and light a fire under us and get us playing like we should,” Madden said. “If we were down [on the scoreboard], we were not playing to our full potential.”

In the third set, the Saints took an early 7-4 lead again off of the play of Jackson. The freshman recorded six kills during the match and gave Emmanuel some early momentum until he launched a serve into the net, and the Crimson’s strong servers were able to regain control.

Harvard, which by this point had worked some new players into its lineup, began to gel and tied the score at 13.

The game went back and forth, with long, even rallies until freshman hitter John Manzo was able to get the Crimson back in control.

After starting his service at 17-17, Manzo served his way to three consecutive points in order to give the home team some cushion late in the game with a 20-17 lead.

“It was great to see some new guys out there tonight,” Schreff said. “John [Manzo] played really well and Will [Chambers] did a great job after Caleb got hurt.”

Harvard kept the pressure on the Saints, who refused to give up despite their deficit. Emmanuel looked poised to make a comeback, but Jones put the nail in coffin, recording his 14th kill of the match to seal the 25-22 third-set win as well as the victory for the Crimson.

Harvard recorded 42 kills to 23 for the Saints as well as nine service aces to Emmanuel’s four. Particularly key to the victory was the Crimson’s .366 hitting percentage in comparison with the Saints’ .066, as it allowed the Harvard to dictate the pace of the game.

“This was good outing for us tonight,” said Baise. “We have been working on our serving, ball control, and passing in practice. We did those well and that allowed us to control the game.”