Crimson Sweeps First Hay League Weekend

Overpowering its first league opponents, the Harvard men’s volleyball team (3-0, 2-0 Hay) swept Rutgers-Newark and Sacred Heart in this weekend’s matches at the Malkin Athletic Center.

The Crimson came out firing on offense, putting together solid passing plays and notching high attacking percentages to down both opponents in three games.

Harvard’s three-game winning streak puts it at the top of the pack, giving the Crimson more momentum at the start of the season than it’s had in the last three years.

Now Harvard looks to earn another victory against top-ranked league rival, Springfield, as it challenges the Pride at home this Tuesday.

“We are the two best teams in the league, so this game will be the biggest of these past three,” senior Brian Rapp said. “We’ve played them the last few years; we’ve dropped some games to them. Coming in now we’re more polished than we’ve ever been. If we just play our game, I see us winning it. This will definitely set us up 3-0, and 3-0 in the league will make us the team to be beaten.”



HARVARD 3, SACRED HEART 0

The Crimson trampled the notoriously easy Pioneers Saturday night at the MAC, tallying 51 kills as it coasted to a 3-0 victory (30-27, 30-15, 30-21). Junior captain Brady Weissbourd led Harvard with 13 kills and no errors, closely followed by seniors Jordan Weitzen and Jamie Crooks, who both notched nine kills.

Sophomore setter Gil Weintraub paced the offense with 45 assists, and Rapp controlled the defense, posting 12 digs overall.

Although Harvard started off slowly in the first game, allowing Sacred Heart to stay within a few points throughout the game, the Crimson kept ahead of the Pioneers to record a win, 30-27.

“We came out in the first game a little lazy,” Rapp said. “We still won based on our levels—our skills are just a lot better than theirs—and the next two games we really took over, took care of the ball, put our serves in the court, hit the ball in the court. It’s really easy when you play a team like this.”

Going on a 16-3 run with sophomore Erik Kuld and Weissbourd serving, Harvard earned a season-high attacking percentage of .462 in the second game. Six different Harvard players earned kills during the run, including Crooks and sophomore Soren Rosier.

The Crimson shut down the Pioneers in the third frame, sealing the victory and putting itself 2-0 in conference play.

“A lot of people, a lot of thought went into that game,” Rapp said. “This game was just one of them we couldn’t trip up in. We’re a lot better than that team is, and to beat them in three games is exactly what we needed to do.”



HARVARD 3, RUTGERS-NEWARK 0

The Crimson’s extra preparation for Friday night’s game against the Scarlet Raiders paid off, as Harvard secured a 3-0 sweep and its first league victory (30-26, 30-26, 30-26).

“We were expecting a really good game because these guys are one of the best teams in the league,” said interim head coach Jose Barbosa. “My team was really conscious, like we have to play 100 percent to beat them, and I think we did it...all the things we’ve been training were working.”

The Scarlet Raiders and the Crimson traded points throughout the first game, keeping the score close. Harvard hit its biggest deficit of the night in the middle of the first frame when it trailed Rutgers-Neward by four, 12-16. But the Crimson recovered on a 14-6 run to take the game, 30-26.

In the second game, Harvard took an early lead, and although the Scarlet Raiders managed to close the gap near the end of the frame, tying it up at 26, the Crimson kept the edge. Harvard went on a 4-0 run to record another 30-26 win.

Rutgers-Neward again kept it close in the third frame, but the Crimson came out on top, posting a .273 attack percentage in the final game.

Weintraub headed another solid offensive effort, making 26 assists and slamming down three kills.

“I definitely have to give props to Gil,” Weitzen said. “He ran an amazing offense and really ran this game and got us the win. He was huge.”

Weitzen led the Crimson with nine kills, while Weissbourd and Kuld notched six kills each. Kuld added five digs and recorded two aces, giving Harvard an edge on serving.

“Everyone worked together, supported each other, and definitely worked hard,” Weitzen said. “We prepared so well for this game and came out fired up. It was just a great team effort for this win, and it’s a great start for our season.”

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.