Harvard Men's Volleyball Splits Evenly-Matched Weekend Against George Mason in Fierce Competition

Harvard men’s volleyball split a close weekend against conference opponent George Mason — where the Crimson played a cleaner service game and defensive strategy than games prior.

This weekend was the Crimson’s first back home at the Malkin Athletic Center in weeks and gave the team a chance to thrive off the energy of its home crowd, especially on Saturday’s senior night in celebration of the team’s seven graduating members.

Senior Owen Fanning said the crowd played a role in the team’s energy and ultimate victory as they came off of a loss from the night before.

“It was good to see so many familiar faces, so much family here, and it was a great time,” Fanning said.

“It was a lot less stressful than last night, but equally as important as a win,” he added.

Harvard 2, GMU 3

Harvard jumped out to an early lead off the back of three George Mason errors. The Patriots cut the lead to one before a Crimson surge gave Harvard a 9-5 advantage.

But the Crimson fell victim to the error bug midway through the set and briefly surrendered the lead. After having fallen behind, the Crimson was able to resize the lead by cleaning up its game.

The two foes played evenly throughout the remainder of the set, but a timely run from the Crimson’s attack led to Harvard seizing a 25-22 first set victory.

Set two started with the two teams trading blows. Following a 6-6 tie, George Mason used its strong attack to take a 10-7 lead. A miscommunication by the Crimson on a free ball led to a golden attacking opportunity for the Patriots, forcing Coach Brian Baise to call a timeout as his team trailed 8-13. Harvard never regained momentum throughout the set and fell 25-19.

The Patriots continued to dominate the early third set primarily at the net. George Mason built a wall at the net that bounced kills back in the Crimson attackers’ faces. After a brief Harvard run cut the lead to two, the Patriots once again showed its prowess and pushed to an 11-6 lead that forced a Crimson timeout.

Coach Baise instilled sage wisdom on the team during the timeout as Harvard came out hot. Strong defense and a stronger attacking game helped the Crimson cut the deficit to one point at 18-17. Just when Harvard got in touch, George Mason pounced again, stretching the lead back to four and causing the Crimson to burn another timeout in the set.

Harvard’s second timeout proved less effective though as the Patriots distanced from the Crimson and claimed the set 25-21.

Back’s against the wall in a pivotal conference clash, Harvard attempted to create early separation, but George Mason hung closely behind. The Patriots used a string of kills to pass the Crimson and claim an 8-10 lead, but Harvard immediately struck back and knotted it at 12.

With the set at deadbolt, it was George Mason now leading the dance with a slight advantage. The Crimson continued to tango step-for-step with the Patriots, never falling more than a beat behind and once again reaching lockstep at 16 all.

With a fierce desire and intensity, the two foes each sensed the moment and matched each other set for set, kill for kill, block for block. Neither team led by more than a point until deuce.

But then, with the set in the balance, George Mason could not rise to the moment and committed a fatal attacking error, awarding the resilience of Harvard with the tying set 27-25.

While the Patriots faltered under the pressure of the fourth set, now feeling its own back against the wall, George Mason came into form in an impressive fifth set. Though the Crimson entered the set with momentum, the Patriots swiftly stole any hope from Harvard with a 5-1 run to start the abbreviated set.

From there it was all gas and no brakes for George Mason. The Patriots turned the highly anticipated fifth set into an uninteresting, bloodbath. Ultimately, George Mason claimed the set and match with a 7-15 rout.

Harvard 3, GMU 0

Harvard entered its second game against George Mason with a packed crowd for the team’s senior night. That energy seemed to have an effect on the Crimson as it prepared for a tough battle after yesterday’s loss.

The Crimson found itself playing a cleaner game than their past few, with very few service errors throughout leading to its on-court confidence.

The Crimson and the Patriots started on a similar footing, setting themselves up for an even match as they traded points early in the first set.

Early on in the game, senior right side hitter Andrew Lobo — who recently returned to the sport after recovering from an ACL injury — locked in with a clean kill across the court that left George Mason stunned and ended their four-point run, raising the score to 4-6.

Lobo, who tore his ACL on last season’s senior night, said coming back and being able to play this year’s game “injury-free felt amazing,” adding that he was thankful for his recovery process and for his ability to get back on the court.

After a few more points of back and forth with Harvard just behind, sophomore middle Owen Woolbert came in with an ace to tie things up 9-9.

The two teams continued swapping points with the Patriots keeping a slight lead. Neither team relented throughout the set as the two rivaled each other for points at 25-25. But benefitting from errors on their opponents’ attacks, Harvard was able to cinch the set 27-25 and carry that momentum forward.

The second set started off strong again with another well-paired back-and-forth. The two teams traded points throughout nearly the entire first half of the set before the Crimson started running for it.

Harvard brought out a wall of a block — made up of Woolbert, senior outside hitter Logan Shepherd, and senior setter James Barden — that annihilated a George Mason ball and drove the Crimson further forward for a 16-13 lead.

While George Mason rivaled Harvard’s scoring opportunities, they were unable to make up the gap and squeezed out a consecutive two points before the Crimson got their match point at 25-22.

The third set started off as an even match before the Crimson met the halfway mark with a new definition of dominance.

After points of back and forth, Harvard finally caught its rhythm over George Mason. While the crowd’s energy held steady throughout the game, the last set showed the power of Harvard’s fans as the stands erupted after a rock-solid block from Woolbert and Shepherd that brought the score to 14-10 and solidified a Harvard lead.

As the set progressed, the Crimson persisted as the notable victor and took point after point from its opponents. A five-point run that left the score at 21-14 widened the gap as the Crimson showed off its consistent serving and blocking game to clean up the set.

The Patriots squeezed out three more points from Harvard before the Crimson prepared to shut them down 25-17 and rushed the court to celebrate the high-energy victory.

Fanning attested the team’s success, in part, to its better performance behind the service line. He added that part of that improvement comes from playing on the team’s home territory.

“I think when we are at home and have our best service game, that kind of just flows to the rest of the game and gives people confidence to swing big and not make errors throughout the rest of the game,” Fanning said.

Finishing off the weekend with one loss and two consecutive victories — one in a Sunday game against Daemen University — the Crimson is prepared to face off against Dominican University of New York at home on Friday before making the trek to New Jersey to play Princeton for a season-defining in-conference matchup.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ReedTrimble1.