Harvard Men’s Volleyball Splits Rescheduled Road Trip Against Charleston

Three weeks after the series was originally scheduled, Harvard (6-7, 4-2 EIVA) finally made the trip down to West Virginia to face the University of Charleston (7-10, 4-2) in a critical conference clash, finishing the weekend 1-1 in an even matchup.

Harvard made its mark on Saturday with a strong performance in the battle and was able to defeat Charleston 3-2. But Sunday’s game marked a greater challenge as Harvard could not recreate the previous night’s success.

The games were originally scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 14 but eventually postponed to this weekend in Charleston, West Virginia in the H. Bernard Wehrle Sr. Athletic Arena.

The rescheduling made it a tight turnaround for both teams between the games on Saturday and Sunday.

“It was a long five setter yesterday after a full day of travel on Friday, but also an earlier game than typical,” said senior outside Logan Shepherd.

Harvard 3, Charleston 2

A matchup nearly a month in the making did not disappoint as the Crimson employed the full five sets to defeat the home Golden Eagles.

The first set held tight early as exchanges of points left Charleston with a 9-7 advantage out of the gate.

A sudden onset of errors by the Golden Eagles broke the stalemate as Harvard surged into the lead via a 6-0 run. The streak was only momentarily halted by a service error before junior outside Zach Berty and Shepard tacked on two more kills.

After growing the lead to five, the Crimson never allowed Charleston back within two points and took the first set 25-20.

Set two mimicked the first but with the teams exchanging roles. Dueling short runs from the conference foes kept the set in deadlock at 11-11. From this point, the Golden Eagles soared to a six point lead powered by an 8-2 run where Harvard’s only points came from Charleston miscues.

The Crimson had no answers for the Golden Eagles’ second set prowess and fell 17-25, tying up the match.

With the score tied up at one set apiece, both teams played with the sense that the third set would go a long way in deciding the fate of the match. Closer to the first set in playstyle, the teams traded jabs early as there were no major runs.

Charleston landed the first haymaker of the round, scoring four straight points as a result of sloppy gameplay from Harvard. Three of the Golden Eagles’ four points in the run came from Crimson attacking errors.

Unfazed, Harvard responded with a blow of its own, launching a rebuttal four point run.

The teams then returned to exchanging blows with just one more run in the set. Unfortunately for the Crimson, Charleston went on a three point run that made the difference in a 25-23 set. Harvard survived two set points before hitting the canvas.

Not defeated yet, the Crimson rose from the floor in the fourth set and responded to adversity with its strongest set of the day.

Harvard set the tone early, exploding out of the gates to take an 8-3 lead. The Golden Eagles eyed a comeback, cutting the Crimson lead to three before another Harvard burst ballooned the advantage to 20-11.

The Crimson held on to win the set 25-17 and force the decisive fifth set.

But the fifth set marked a challenge for the pair, as the Crimson and the Golden Eagles struggled to grasp an early lead. Neither team led by more than one point up to the 10-10 mark.

With both teams staring the end of the match in the face, Charleston blinked first. A kill by Berty gave Harvard an 11-10 lead before a cavalcade of Eagle errors granted the Crimson its last four points.

Ultimately, Harvard won the set 15-11, taking the match as well.

Harvard 1, Charleston 3

In Saturday’s contest, the Crimson failed to get ahead in the first set. Charleston started stronger, bringing forth two kills to take an early but small lead before Harvard scored its first point.

Two consecutive kills from senior outside Owen Fanning pulled Harvard forward for a 5-4 lead and pushed the Crimson into the game. But the unrelenting Golden Eagles refused to let up, bouncing back quickly for the lead again.

Once the score tied at 10-10 with a swift Charleston kill, Harvard was unable to take the upper hand for the rest of the set, though the back-and-forth persisted for the rest of the set, with the longest run sitting at three points.

Later in the set, the Crimson forced Charleston to a timeout after two kills that brought the score to 22-24. Though Harvard gained a point via a Charleston error after the timeout, the Golden Eagles were able to seize the set point and close out 23-25.

The second set marked a shift for Harvard, with a total of three aces that pushed Charleston down. The Crimson benefited from a series of attack errors from its opponents, which allowed it to persist in the second set of battle.

While the lead was uncertain early in the set, Fanning drove a kill that solidified Harvard’s standing.

Harvard continued on a roll, raising the score to 18-14 before junior outside hitter Zach Berty slammed the Golden Eagles with his signature effective kill before getting behind the service line and delivering three aces straight to Charleston’s side.

Riding its success, the Crimson finished the set with a kill from senior outside hitter Logan Shepherd to claw back with a 25-21 victory.

Harvard then faltered to Charleston throughout the entire third set. Both teams started with early errors that seemed to define the set as another back-and-forth began. The Golden Eagles were eventually able to use the Crimson’s faulty play against them to sustain an 8-13 lead.

From then on, Harvard was unable to match Charleston’s level of play. The Golden Eagles finished off the set with a run of five points that again took advantage of Harvard’s minor errors.

The Crimson came back swinging in the last set, hoping to get back under the ball and redeem itself in the game.

While its early issues gave a few points to Charleston, Harvard was able to put up a more even battle and keep the score close until the very end. Charleston wrapped up the game after Harvard’s attempts to close the gap at 20-24 proved not enough. The Golden Eagles finished up the set and got the final match point at 22-25.

Nearly halfway through the conference season, the Crimson is still eyeing improvement and a conference championship, looking to draw closer to that goal over Spring Break.

“The biggest thing is to continue to improve because we know it is a tight race and the other teams in the EIVA will continue to improve,” said Shepard. “I think the biggest thing for us is finding a way to take care of things on our side.”

“I think that starts with the serve and pass game and if we are taking care of business there, it just makes every aspect of the game easier,” he said.

Harvard has a week to reset before facing No. 6 Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for a strong matchup on the first weekend of spring break.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ReedTrimble1.