Men's Volleyball Defeated By No. 7 Hawaii in Straight Sets

The Harvard men’s volleyball team put in a promising performance against a nationally-ranked team on Friday, but came up just short to pick up its second loss in as many games. The Crimson (0-2) took on No. 7 University of Hawaii (2-0) at the Outrigger Resorts Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii and fell in straight sets, 3-0, but each set was hotly contested with continuously shifting momentum.

“I thought we played very well, especially with a large crowd and a great team on the other side,” said sophomore middle blocker Riley Moore. “We fought very hard, and showed a lot of character fighting until the end of the match.”

Despite the fact that the team lost in straight sets, it was a night marked by strong individual performances. Three Harvard players garnered 10 or more kills. Junior outside hitter Casey White contributed 11 kills, while senior outside hitter Alec Schlossman and captain Branden Clemens each tallied 10 of their own. Junior libero Samuel Murphy also chipped in 10 digs on the night to keep Harvard in the game.

“[Murphy] played an amazing game,” Moore said. “He had a lot of good plays and he impressed our team with a strong performance out of the back row.”

However, some commanding attacking play from the Rainbow Warriors, including a breakout performance from freshman opposite Stijn van Tilburg, propelled Hawaii past the Crimson. Tilburg racked up a game-high 18 kills, while senior outside hitter Sinisa Zarkovic added 12. The duo contributed to a potent Rainbow Warriors attack that bested Harvard in hitting percentage, kills, and service aces and ultimately proved too much for the Crimson to handle.

Harvard was also undone by a string of attacking errors that allowed Hawaii to build up momentum. In every frame, the Rainbow Warriors were able to pull away on a run of unanswered points fueled by mistakes in the Crimson offense. Seven of Harvard’s 11 errors on the night came in the final six points of sets, while Hawaii committed only three of its 13 in the same frame.

“As a team we need to focus on limiting our errors and stopping the opponent from winning several points in a row,” Moore said. “If we can do that we will have a lot of success this year.”

Despite the errors plaguing the team, Harvard kept the game close throughout the night, with the Rainbow Warriors never leading by more than five points.

The Crimson established its willingness to fight in the first frame, as the teams traded the lead back and forth in a set that saw 14 ties and three changes in advantage. Harvard eventually pulled away for a 21-20 lead, but Hawaii stole the advantage back with a 5-1 run to finish ahead, 25-22.

The second set saw more of the same, as the Crimson leaped out to a two-point lead, only to end up down by five points, its biggest deficit of the night. Harvard clawed back to reduce the margin to three, but the Rainbow Warriors held firm to take the frame by four points.

The Crimson regained some of its footing in the final stanza, holding Hawaii’s advantage to one or two points for the majority of the set.

“A major focus was to keep our offense firing at all cylinders throughout the match,” Clemens said. “I think our offense clicked more consistently throughout the entire match last night [than it did against Lewis].”

However, on the back of seven kills from Tilburg, the Rainbow Warriors’ attack kept one step ahead of Harvard, as the Crimson never led in the final frame. Hawaii was able to once more pull away from Harvard in the final few points to seal the set and the game.

Despite the outcome, the result against a top-10-ranked opponent is a promising one for Harvard as the team heads into the regular season.

“I think we are continuing to prove that we can play against some of the top teams in the country,” Clemens said. “We've seen that we can play tit for tat with these teams, and even take the lead against them, we just need to learn to stay consistent and execute in tight situations.”

—Staff writer Sam O.M. Christenfeld can be reached at schristenfeld@college.harvard.edu