Harvard Drops Another at Home

On Friday night the Harvard men’s volleyball team (7-5, 0-3 EIVA Hay) set out to snap its three-game losing streak and get the weekend off to a good start against Juniata (12-9, 5-0) at the Malkin Athletic Center.

The two teams played four close games, with the Crimson winning the first but coming up just short in the next three.

“I think we played with a lot of passion tonight,” said freshman outside hitter Chris Gibbons. “But what we’ve been struggling on in the past is that we’re just not closing the games, and so we just make a few more mistakes than the other team—we can’t make mistakes and still win matches.”

The first game started slowly, with four back-to-back missed serves, two from each team. Gibbons scored the first earned point for the Crimson with a powerful hit off the Juniata block.

The Eagles responded with a side-out, only to waste their possession with a serve into the net.

The squads reached a tie at six, but a block by freshman Nick Madden and a serving rally by fellow rookie Kyle Rehkemper propelled Harvard to a 10-7 lead.

After junior co-captain Matt Jones took advantage of an accidental overpass by Juniata, the Eagles called time-out at 13-8 to shift the momentum.

Harvard miscues and hustle by Juniata cut the margin to two points, but the Crimson utilized its offense—attacking at .500 as a team—to arrive at a 25-22 victory in game one.

“The first game was our best offensive game of the season,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “But for whatever reason, we couldn’t sustain it.”

The Eagles started the second game with the serve but didn’t keep it for long, after a huge hit by outside hitter Jones.

Then a pair of missed serves by Juniata gave Harvard the opportunity to extend its lead to 7-3.

These missed serves by both teams reflected a common trend in the match as a whole: the Crimson and the Eagles missed 17 and 20 serves, respectively.

The teams fought back and forth for points, tying things up at 18.

But Juniata took its first lead of the game on an error by Harvard and extended its advantage with a block.

With the score set at 20-18, the Crimson called a time-out to quell the Eagles’ energy. Following the respite, Harvard managed great defense—including big pickups off the block—but Juniata maintained the lead for the remainder of the game, finishing at 25-23.

Game three was another nail-biter.

The home team displayed its cohesion with an ability to score even out of system. Sophomore setter Rob Lothman made a crucial dig, allowing Gibbons the opportunity to feed Jones for a kill early on.

Each team constantly struggled for points, exchanging leads until another tie at 17-17, when the Eagles snatched the advantage away from Harvard. Again, the Crimson called a time-out hoping for a turnaround down 20-17.

Harvard exited the time-out with an aggressive charge, including clutch kills by Gibbons and Rehkemper, which brought the home team within a point at 22-21.

Yet Juniata found harmony between its offense and defense to close the game, 25-22.

The Crimson came into game four fighting for its life.

Early on, plays like the pass, set, kill combination by junior co-captain and libero Dan Schreff, Lothman, and Jones set the tone for the set.

Back-to-back aces by Gibbons had the stands rumbling and kept the Harvard momentum rolling.

As the game progressed, though, the Crimson lagged behind and found itself behind, 22-17.

Coming out of the timeout, Harvard made a scoring push, shrinking the Juniata lead to three points, but the Eagles held on to take the game, 25-22, and with it, the match.

“It hurt to lose this one—it felt like it was ours to win,” Baise said. “But we got progressively worse; in the fourth game, we ended up attacking at zero, and you can’t win a volleyball game like that.”

Despite the final result, the Crimson made significant improvements from its first matchup against Juniata, when it lost in three games by a larger margin.

A number of Harvard individuals also performed well, including middle blocker Madden, who hit .533 with eight kills, made no errors, and picked up five digs.