Harvard Men’s Volleyball Loses in EIVA Quarterfinals to Penn State, Finishes Season

The Harvard men’s volleyball team (9-15, 5-7 EIVA) finished off its season with a 0-3 loss to formidable foe Penn State (12-15, 8-4 EIVA) in the quarterfinals of the EIVA Tournament.

The Crimson came back to New Jersey on Wednesday for its fifth straight game in the Garden State. The Nittany Lions entered the game with revenge on its mind after the Crimson ended Penn State’s 38 game win streak in EIVA play with a 3-0 victory earlier this year.

Penn State came back the next day with a victory, splitting the series in Cambridge. Still, while the Nittany Lions entered the year as highly ranked foes, Penn State’s inconsistency pulled them down the rankings compared to last season.

In two incredibly close sets, the two teams battled neck-and-neck — but Penn State got a leg up on the Crimson both times.

In the third set, the Crimson lost its chance at redemption as the score difference only widened.

According to senior outside hitter Logan Shepherd, the team struggled to follow through at the end of sets.

“I think it really came down to finishing sets,” Shepherd said. “That was a story last weekend. We have to be able to close out sets.”

Harvard 0, Penn State 3

The Nittany Lions proved their prowess early in the set, taking the first point from the Crimson with a firm center-court kill, which set them up to lead the game early on 2-4. After a service error on Penn State, the Crimson forced a clean block to tie the score 4-4.

The Nittany Lions took a brief lead 8-11 before freshman outside Sawyer Nichols delivered an effective kill. The Crimson continued its energy with junior outside Zach Berty — who was named All-EIVA Honorable mention — behind the service line for an ace followed by a clean serve that set the team up for a kill to tie the game 11-11.

Nichols, who had been sidelined much of March due to illness, continued a strong on-court presence as the teams went back-and-forth in scoring and timeouts. After a reset, a nice left-side kill from sophomore middle Owen Woolbert, followed by a block from the Crimson brough the set to 17-18. The blocking game was aided by the serving of sophomore outside Quinn Bishop, who tortured the Nittany Lions earlier this season.

At 22-23, Harvard built a strong wall at the net to block Penn State, but was unprepared to face another attempt from the Nittany Lions, which found its way to the back corner and gave Penn State set point. Though Harvard slid a point to give Penn State a run for its money, the Nittany Lions took the set 23-25 with a powerful hit that the Crimson couldn’t keep on the court.

Harvard started off the second set strong with a good set that allowed Woolbert options in the middle on the attack. Woolbert ultimately chose to bury the kill down the right side to take the lead.

After two quick Nittany Lion points, senior setter — and All EIVA second-teamer — James Bardin tied it up with a wily second touch kill.

A crafty offspeed kill from Nichols got the Crimson to double digits first before a scramble drill by Penn State ended with a tip out of bounds from Harvard allowed the Nittany Lions to catch up.

Penn State believed it claimed the lead on a missed kill by the Crimson, but a smart challenge by coach Brian Baise flipped the point to Harvard. Harvard extended from there with kills from senior outsides Owen Fanning and Logan Shepard, giving the Crimson a 15-12 lead.

A service error and a wide set that gave Penn State a good blocking angle let the Nittany Lions right back in the set, but mature play from the young Nichols helped Harvard extend its lead back to three at the 18-15 mark.

Penn State refused to fold and used its strong offense to tighten up the score to 21-20. An exchange of points and an attack error by the Crimson knotted up the score at 22.

Out of a Harvard timeout, a Penn State kill was deflected by the Crimson but still found paydirt. Now down 22-23, Baise burned another timeout for Harvard.

Bad net luck on an attack gave the Nittany Lions a match point. Harvard’s defense allowed it to survive the first match point and led to a Penn State timeout. The Crimson tied the set at 24 out of the timeout following a good block touch by Shepherd and a kill by Woolbert.

A powerful Penn State kill put the Nittany Lions back in the lead, but it was once again Woolbert who stepped up to knot the set after a long battle of a point.

Penn State received its fourth match point off of a Harvard service error. Shepherd broke the set point this time with a strong kill that careened out of bounds off of the block. A kill by Penn State followed by a service error tied the set at 27.

After a Penn State attack error and timeout, a long diagonal kill from Penn State was called out on the court before the Nittany Lions’ coach challenged. The challenge overturned the call and tied the set back up at 28.

A wicked lefty serve gave Penn State yet another set point. The Nittany Lions finally claimed the set with a massive block for the final point. The 28-30 loss for Harvard was deflating following what the team had thought to be a marathon victory just points before.

Harvard was unable to get back in the race in the third set, as Penn State came in to take the first two points before Harvard reentered the match.

Penn State was unrelenting. While Harvard made a series of efforts to keep the ball up, it couldn’t stop the Nittany Lion from a four-point run that brought the score to 4-8 and forced a Crimson timeout.

The Crimson came back from the timeout with a point, but Penn State didn’t let Harvard encroach on its lead, eventually widening the gap to 7-13.

Harvard worked its way forward to gradually eat away at the Nittany Lion’s disparate lead, but was unable to get a strong run.

Harvard used its final timeout in a last-ditch effort to redeem itself, but Penn State came back with two more points. Harvard placed a consecutive three strong kills on Penn State to begin closing the score 14-21.

After a service error was called on Penn State, the Nittany Lion challenged the call successfully to raise the score to 15-23. With an attack outside the court lines, Harvard ended its EIVA tournament and Penn State took the game with a ten point gap 15-25.

The loss ended a season of many ups and downs for the Crimson. At its peak, Harvard was the team that ended Penn State’s gargantuan win streak and was within two good weekends of finishing as a top two seed in the EIVA. In its valleys, Harvard failed to close out sets when it mattered and dropped too many matches against top teams 0-3.

Between those peaks and valleys are the memories. The team played in two of the top venues in the sport, Hawaii and BYU, according to Shepherd. Moments like those are what Shepherd will most take away from his time with the Crimson.

“It’s like a family.” And that family does not end, though Shepherd time in uniform may have ended. “We’re still gonna be creating more memories, just outside of the volleyball court.”

Despite losing seven stellar seniors, the Crimson maintain hope for the future behind especially strong sophomore and freshman classes.

“They’re really good players. Makes me excited to come back and watch them,” said Shepherd.

—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.