Harvard Men's Volleyball Earns First Win of the Season Against King University

To find the last time Harvard men’s volleyball started a season with three consecutive losses, you would have to go back to 2010, in what was coach Brian Baise’s second year at the helm. That season, the team ended up finishing with a final record of 5-16, its worst ever as a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

Fast forward six years and the Crimson found itself trying to avoid a similarly inauspicious start to the season as it entered a Sunday night matchup against the King University Tornado. After suffering losses to No. 8 Lewis and No. 7 Hawaii, Baise’s squad hoped to grab its first win before leaving the Outrigger Resorts Invitational in Honolulu.

“This is the first time we’ve been a part of this Invitational, and we would have been really disappointed to leave without winning at least one game,” Harvard captain Branden Clemens said.

Behind a strong performance by Clemens and fellow senior outside hitter Alec Schlossman, however, Harvard (1-2) defeated King (0-3) in straight sets, 25-12, 23-17, 25-17.

The Crimson took control right from the start, jumping out to a 17-7 lead in the first set. Despite three service errors that halted momentum, Harvard rode its power game to ultimately take the set, 25-12. Clemens and Schlossman paced the team with four kills apiece.

“In the past couple of years, we’ve struggled with coming out flat against teams that we knew we could beat,” Schlossman said. “But that didn’t happen tonight. It was good to come out from the get-go and establish ourselves.”

The second set followed a similar pattern. The Tornado never led as Crimson middle blocker Trevor Dow, who stands at 6’10”, staked his team to an early 6-2 lead with a pair of kills. Dow, a freshman making his first collegiate start, finished with six kills in a strong debut performance.

“We’re all proud of how Trevor played,” Clemens said. “To come in like that in his first game was really impressive. We’re excited to see how he’s going to contribute the rest of the season.”

Dow will be competing for a spot in the starting lineup with fellow freshman middle blocker Spencer Scott, who saw action in Harvard’s first two contests.

Behind the play of Clemens, Schlossman, and Dow, the Crimson looked to comfortably put away King once again in the third set. This time, however, the Tornado matched Harvard point for point, kill for kill. At one point, the teams combined for seven straight kills in what was an exciting, back and forth sequence.

While Clemens continued to dominate at the net for the Crimson, recording four more kills to finish with 11, King sophomore outside hitter Jeff Sprayberry tallied four of his own to keep the Tornado close. Sprayberry finished with six kills total, tied for the team lead with senior middle blocker Matthew Lychock.

At 18-17, with Harvard holding the slim lead, Sprayberry served to try to tie the game once again for King. However, Dow earned his final kill to restore a two-point lead for the Crimson, which did not drop another point. Sophomore setter Marko Kostich took control, ripping off four aces in five points, including three in a row to end the game.

“We knew they weren’t going to go down without a fight, but luckily, Marko caught fire from the service line,” Schlossman said. “That was something that helped us the whole game. We put a lot of pressure on them from the service line, and that made it easier for our defense as well.”

Kostich’s flurry to finish the match punctuated a dominant victory for Harvard, which ended up with a 10-2 edge in service aces and a 43-23 advantage in kills. Led by seven digs apiece from Kostich, junior libero Samuel Murphy, and junior outside hitter Casey White, the Crimson also had 31 digs to 23 for the Tornado.

Overall, it was a complete and convincing win for Harvard, which leaves Hawaii with experience against several of the top-ranked teams in the country.

“I’m very happy with how the weekend played out,” Clemens said. “If you told me beforehand we would take Lewis to give sets and beat King, I would have taken it.”

—Staff writer George Hu can be reached at yianshenhu@college.harvard.edu.