Harvard Extends Winning Streak to Five in Sweep

A team that had seemed very beatable now looks unstoppable.

With a thorough 3-0 (30-15, 30-24, 30-16) thrashing of division rival Sacred Heart (0-6, 0-2 Sweeney) Sunday afternoon at the Malkin Athletic Center, the Harvard men’s volleyball team moved into first place in the Sweeney Division and extended its overall win streak to five games.

“Our goal was just to play clean volleyball today, and the guys did it,” said Harvard coach Chris Ridolfi. “They turned most of the balls around into our advantage, and we had a great game attacking the ball.”

The ferocious Crimson offense was led by Seamus McKiernan. In addition to posting seven digs defensively, the junior middle hitter recorded 15 kills and five blocks.

“[Seamus] came to play today,” Ridolfi said. “When he brings the A-game, he’s a tough guy to stop.”

Still pumped up from its victory against Endicott on Thursday night, Harvard (5-3, 2-0) jumped on top early with an explosive first game. Passing efficiently and finishing points quickly, the Crimson launched kill after kill against the helpless Pioneers.

“We have just had four big wins, so we came out fired to play,” freshman setter Jordan Weitzen said. “That was the force that was driving us today.”

Taking a double-digit lead barely 10 minutes into the match, senior outside hitter Abe Marouf—who had 14 kills on the night—followed a McKiernan blast with two aces to push Harvard ahead 23-10. The Crimson would take seven of the next 12 points en route to an easy 30-15 opening win.

Perhaps a little overconfident from the first frame’s success, however, Harvard began the second game sloppily. The teams traded points as each took turns making mistakes, including a total of nine service errors—six by the Crimson.

“We weren’t aggressive enough in the second game,” Ridolfi said. “We just had a little lack of focus in the service area.”

But with the score tied at 14, Harvard refocused its efforts. Marouf and sophomore setter Dave Fitz led the Crimson on a 13-5 run to move to a 27-19 tally. Though Sacred Heart fought back with a mini-surge of its own, solid defense by Harvard allowed it to escape with a 30-24 victory.

After the back-and-forth battle of the second frame, the third game was relatively anticlimactic. Though the Pioneers matched the Crimson point for point in the early goings of the frame, their inconsistent offense eventually did them in. Five successive wide kills by Sacred Heart gave Harvard a 12-8 cushion.

The Crimson attack took over from there. It returned to the form of the first game, punishing the Pioneers’ mistakes and bouncing kills off their heads. A 15-11 margin quickly became 27-15, and three kills by McKiernan completed the three-game sweep.

“Seamus is very good at what he does,” Weitzen said. “He just bangs balls.”

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.