Men's Volleyball Dominates MIT in Straight Sets

The Harvard men’s volleyball team was midway through the third set of a home matchup against MIT, and the kills continued to pour in for Crimson co-captain and outside hitter DJ White.

On the strength of two spikes and an unwieldy serve, the senior won three straight points, pushing Harvard’s lead to 13-6 and causing the Engineers’ coach to signal for a timeout.

However, the brief delay stopped neither White nor the Crimson (4-3), and the hosts rolled to a three-set victory thanks to a season high of 16 kills from White.

“Tonight we kept it fast,” White said. “Most teams can’t handle our quick offense…. We put them off the net, and it was a pretty easy win for us.”

White came up the biggest at the end of the second set with the score knotted at 22-22. Over the next four points, White scored two kills to earn a 25-23 game victory.

The set defeat seemed to deflate MIT (4-1, 1-0 UVC), which lost five of the first six points when play resumed in the third set.

Over the match, Harvard dominated all major categories. The Crimson rolled to 42 kills and 51 blocks compared to respective totals of 28 and 37 for the Engineers.

“We were playing really crisp,” outside hitter Branden Clemens said. “We were passing well for the most part, and we were getting really good sets…. Things are starting to click.”

This offensive efficiency was apparent from the opening serve, as Harvard committed only two errors in the first game to earn a .565 hitting percentage. With junior outside hitter Alec Schlossman at the server’s position, the Crimson took the first four points of play.

Later in the set, Schlossman also served through a 6-0 run that ended with Harvard up 21-9. During this stretch, the Crimson won all six points on kills, with White and Clemens earning three and two, respectively. The hosts took the set, 25-12.

After racking up 27 service errors over two matches this weekend, Harvard missed only seven against MIT. Meanwhile, the Crimson combined for five aces.

Clemens, who recorded a pair by himself, headed the Harvard serving attack. Especially in the early going, the Engineers struggled to return his topspin-heavy serve, and Clemens won at least one point every time that he stepped behind the end line.

“I’ve been working on my jump serve,” Clemens said. “Yesterday, I think we served for probably 30 minutes…. We’ve really been focusing on that, and I thought we saw some really good results tonight.”

Despite facing a 15-11 deficit in the second period, MIT stormed back to take its first lead of the game at 17-16 and elicit cheers from its section of traveling fans.

However, the applause was short-lived, as White’s late kills helped the Crimson claim the game.

In addition to his offensive production, White contributed two blocks to a defense that rejected the ball 18 times on the night. Clemens topped the bunch with six blocks, the same number that the Engineers recorded as a team.

“I was really focusing on lining up the ball really well,” Clemens said. “We went over some keys for how we want to block for our first conference game on Friday, and I was just…focusing on trying to block like that.”

MIT adjusted to Harvard’s defensive success by relying on tips over the Crimson’s first line of blockers.

While this strategy kept the second set close, the match returned to blowout form late in the game, when Harvard won seven of the last eight points of play.

Although the Engineers entered the matchup with an undefeated record, this label proved misleading, as MIT had only squared off against Division III programs. The Crimson has now won four consecutive matches against its crosstown opponent.

“We feel good,” White said. “We’ve played some good opponents, and I think we’re up to speed with where we need to be at.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@college.harvard.edu