Men's Volleyball Drops Season Opener Against Lewis, 3-2

Trial by fire. Dropped in the deep end. Thrown to the wolves. Pick your adage to describe Harvard men’s volleyball’s start to the 2016 season, as the Crimson faced off with last year’s national runner-up, No. 8 Lewis (2-0), in its season opener at the Outrigger Resorts Invitational in Honolulu.

Harvard (0-1) fell 3-2 to the Flyers, winning the second and third sets, which were bookended by losses in the first, fourth, and fifth frames. After the winning the third set, 25-23, to push Lewis to the brink, the Crimson suffered 25-14 and 15-8 losses in the final two sets, respectively.

“A few people described it as a roller-coaster game,” said senior outside hitter Alec Schlossman, who recorded 12 kills, four digs, and three total blocks. “I’d say that’s pretty accurate. But it was our first game of the season, and I thought it definitely looked like our first match of the season with the ups and downs, but... we’re happy with the way we played.”

Harvard, ranked No. 22 in last season’s final RPI poll, was in for a tough test after losing star outside hitter DJ White ’15 and middle blocker Caleb Zimmick ’15 to graduation. In their absence, captain Branden Clemens and Schlossman are expected to pick up the slack, which they did on Thursday night to mixed results.

“I’d probably give myself a B, to be honest,” Clemens said. “I think I started slow and didn’t end the game very well, but I was really happy with play in sets two and three. I definitely think there is always room for improvement, and I definitely want to do a lot better.”

The duo combined for 26 kills, 83 total attacks, and 17 digs, but also 27 total errors.

“We’re going to look to those guys a lot,” coach Brian Baise said. “Branden is our captain, has been on the court for us for four years. We kept setting them the ball at the end, so we’re going to need that all season from them. I think they’re ready for that and want that.”

After falling behind, Lewis got into a rhythm in the fourth set. The Flyers went on a few mini-runs that recaptured any momentum lost in the middle two sets, taking advantage of the Crimson’s sloppy play. After playing confidently on offense and recording 35 kills to 14 errors in the first three sets, Harvard committed 17 errors with only 10 kills over the final two.

While it was the first match of the season for the Crimson, Lewis had already shaken off its first game nerves with a victory over UC Santa Barbara to open the year. The Flyers are once again favorites to challenge for the national title this season.

“We were passing really well in the first three games,” Schlossman said. “And then the last two, we let them go on a few serving rounds, our passing wasn’t as crisp, our offense was really predictable... they were able to get blockers out early on the hitters.”

Scott, who played varsity football in the fall as a punter, came in right away and started all five sets for Harvard. Despite missing numerous practices during the preseason because of his football obligations, the 6’4” Illinois native enjoyed a promising start to his collegiate career, recording three blocks.

“Spencer was ready. He is as composed a freshman as I’ve seen,” Baise said. “It’s a tough environment to come into, he blocked really well. He made some great defensive plays for us even though he was under quite a bit of pressure.”