Male Athlete of the Year Runner-Up: Branden Clemens

A certain look overcomes Branden Clemens when the Harvard men’s volleyball team wins an important point.

As soon as the ball caroms off the other side of the court and the referees straighten their arms, Clemens crouches down.

Already, the captain has locked his gaze on a teammate. Eyes wide open, he advances with heavy steps. Then, palms facing the ceiling, he stretches out both hands for a high five; sometimes an errant yell lands in the crowd.

Over the past four years, that celebration has animated the Malkin Athletic Center time and time again. It’s a display of uninhibited emotion—explosive, genuine, but somehow always the same.

In other words, much like Clemens himself.

“It’s really impressive how excited he gets about every point and keeps the team excited,” sophomore middle blocker Riley Moore said. “In practice, he usually tries to keep it in, but in games every point is a must-win.”

In a sport that depends on instincts and takes place in seconds, the senior outside hitter has distinguished himself as a steadying force.

He has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments, including four straight EIVA playoff berths, three seasons with over 200 kills, two nominations to the All-EIVA first team, and one All-American honorable mention.

This season, Clemens led the Crimson as captain and top attacker. At times, he singlehandedly powered the offense, making key plays at critical moments to push Harvard to the conference tournament.

“There were times this year where he was basically unstoppable,” coach Brian Baise said. “He wants to compete as much as anyone I’ve coached.”

At no point did Clemens matter more than during the last week of the regular season, when Harvard hosted Princeton and NJIT. Win, and the Crimson made the playoffs; lose, and it was out.

In the later matchup, the stakes loomed especially large, as NJIT held a 10-6 advantage in the fourth frame after coming back from a two-set deficit.

Then Clemens took over, recording five finishes in the next seven points to snatch back the lead. Fifteen minutes later, Harvard had secured the set, meaning the match and the playoff berth.

But that stretch was not the only tide-turning show that Clemens put on during the weekend. Against Princeton, Clemens turned back a second-set surge by serving through a 9-0 run.

“If we needed a point, if we needed a kill, we would just give him the ball,” Baise said. “It didn’t matter if the other team knew where it was going. He came through.”

Clemens’ ability comes from a volleyball-heavy upbringing. In 2013 and 2014, he qualified for the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, placing ninth in both cases.

Compared to the indoor variety, beach volleyball requires players to do everything—serve, dig, pass, and hit—and this flexibility helps to explain why Clemens has reached the top 10 in Crimson history in kills, aces, digs, and total blocks.

However, Clemens hardly spent his childhood on some beautiful Pacific Coast strip of sand. Growing up in Carmel, Ind., he played for his local high school and regularly drove three hours to Chicago to compete against better competition on the club circuit.

“He came in with a very well-rounded game,” Baise said. “He’s a lot bigger and stronger now, but his skills were always good for a tall guy.”

As a Harvard freshman, he switched positions from right side to left, a more jack-of-all-trades role that required passing as well as attacking.

Yet the 6’6” outside hitter specializes in smashing the ball across the net. From March 14, 2015 to March 14, 2016, Clemens played in 26 games. In 25 of them, he recorded double-digit kill totals—a truly unique proof of consistency.

This season, Clemens placed second in the conference with a .320 hitting percentage. So central was he to the Harvard attack that, besides the Springfield matchup, the Crimson won every contest in which he reached .500.

“Showing dominance in our division at every level was just because of how hard he worked,” Moore said. “He had an amazing senior year that you can’t really pull off unless you work hard for four years.”

Beyond on-court prowess, Clemens served as a mentor for several teammates, including Moore. Now a sophomore, Moore recalls that Clemens made a habit of reaching out to the younger guys, often just to hang out.

In this sense, the final testament to Clemens’s season, and indeed his career, is whether that behavioral norm outlasts his exit. Spikes roll to a stop, referee whistles lapse into silence, but personal impact lingers in remaining teammates.

While several starters return for the 2017 season, that consistency only means so much without Clemens—who, after all, has been the program’s bedrock over the last several seasons.

“As a captain, it was never about him,” Baise said. “It was what the team needed. Those are guys that make teams work well when they do and make coaching fun.”

–Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.