Men's Volleyball Takes Down Holy Names, 3-0

The Harvard men’s volleyball team welcomed the Holy Names Hawks from Oakland, California to the Malkin Athletic Center for the first ever meeting on Friday evening. Despite comfortable wins in the first two sets, a nail-biter third set was necessary for Harvard to take down the Hawks, 3-0.

With the third game tied at 24-24, the Crimson (9-6, EIVA 5-2) kept spectators on their toes as Harvard fought to keep the match against Holy Names (1-16) from going into a fourth set.

“They started putting pressure on us and they started serving well,” Baise said. “They started defending well and getting some good digs.”

A 4-0 run for Holy Names set the stage for the Hawks to take their first large lead of the match at 13-10.

“The third set was definitely tough we stopped passing well,” sophomore Riley Moore said. “But I think we fought especially once we went down after 20 it’s hard to come back.”

For the remainder of the set, Holy Names and the Crimson battled it out point for point with neither team ever getting more than a two point lead.

Volleyball rules require teams to win by at least two-points —but Holy Names and Harvard were still tied at 25-25.

“Especially after 20 it’s really tough to come back,” Moore said. “[During the time out] we talked about staying focused and playing like the first set.”

Finally, after 10 ties and six lead changes, with players fighting point for point and diving for saves, sophomore outside hitters Brad Gretsch and Jack Heavey made two kills in a row, to finish the match and give Harvard a 3-0 win for the second game in a row.

“Brad Gretsch had a really great match,” Baise said after Gretsch recorded a career-high of five service aces and contributed 11 kills for Harvard.

Carrying over the momentum from the Crimson’s last match, a 3-0 thrashing against EIVA rival Sacred Heart, Harvard dominated early and often through the first two sets. Three kills by Moore kicked things off for the Crimson, tallying three kills to give his team an early 7-3 lead in the first set.

Harvard went on to win the first set 25-12, with captain Branden Clemens leading the team with 5 kills and Gretsch recording three aces. The Crimson finished the game with 9 consecutive points, out-hitting Holy Names .435 to .000. Overall, Clemens had 14 kills on the night, his 14th double-digit total of the season.

“In the first game we were passing really well, so Marko [Kostich] was able to run the whole offense,” Moore said. “Once the passing goes it’s really predictable where we’re setting so it makes it a lot easier for the other team.”

In the second set, the Hawks began challenging Harvard. Holy Names came out to an early 3-1 lead, which the Crimson quickly closed; however, the score remained close for a significant portion of the game.

A streak of service aces for Harvard enabled the Crimson to build a substantial lead with the score jumping from 8-7 to 9-15 within minutes.

Holy Names staged a late game comeback, but their efforts were not enough to ever overtake Harvard. The frame ended with freshman middle blocker Trevor Dow clinching the match with a kill.

“Trevor Dow has been in there now almost the whole season,” Harvard coach Brian Baise said. “And he gets better with every practice, every game.”

Dow, a local freshman from Needham, Massachusetts was recently named EIVA Defensive Player of the Week on Feb. 29 and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week honorable mention on Feb. 22, Feb. 29, and March 7.

The Crimson now prepares to play another non-conference match; this time against ranked opponent Cal Baptist on Monday.

“They are a really good team from a really good conference,” Moore said. “Passing and defense will be most important for us”