Crimson Claims Three from MIT

It might have been St. Patrick’s Day, but the Harvard men’s volleyball team (8-6, 3-1 EIVA Hay Division) would need no luck to beat the Engineers of MIT (22-11). With a raucous crowd cheering on the Crimson, Harvard swept its cross-town rival 3-0 (30-23, 30-17, 30-26), giving the team its fifth win in the last six games.

“With the exception of the Princeton match last weekend, we’ve really been playing well each game,” coach Brian Baise said. “Last Saturday against East Stroudsburg, we were in control the entire game, and tonight we did it again. I feel great at this point.”

“They beat us last year, which was one of the worst games we ever played,” co-captain Brady Weissbourd added. “We were pretty pissed off, so it feels really good to get a win.”

The Crimson started off the match on fire, jumping to a 12-7 lead off of a block by junior Soren Rosier. While Rosier and junior co-captain Gil Weintraub were stalwarts on the defensive front, contributing three of the six total blocks earned by Harvard in the first set, Weissbourd and junior Erik Kuld took care of the offense by notching six and four kills, respectively. Six of the seven players who played in the game registered a kill for the Crimson, providing balance across the board.

“We have a lot of well-rounded players this year and they play all over the court,” Weissbourd said. “They do everything.”

An error committed by MIT allowed Harvard to take the first set with a solid 30-23 win.

With momentum in hand, the Crimson continued to dominate all aspects of the game in the second set. Crisp and powerful serves prevented the Engineers from establishing any sort of offense all evening, limiting MIT to a .182 hitting percentage in the second set.

“Their big advantage is their serving,” MIT coach Paul Dill said. “It’s more than we’re used to seeing, so that took us out of our offense.”

Weissbourd was once again Mr. Do-it-all, serving up back-to-back aces to give Harvard a comfortable 11-4 lead. A few plays later, Weissbourd then smashed a powerful serve to the opponent before forcefully killing the ball to give the Crimson a ten point lead. The senior standout would finish the game with 21 kills and an incredible .667 hitting percentage.

“[Weissbourd] is just such a dominant player at this level,” Dill said. “We wanted to contain him as best as we could, and there were times when we could, but they had too many weapons. I won’t be sorry to see him leave, but he’s been fun to watch for the last four years.”

Enjoying a .440 team attack percentage, Harvard took the second set 30-17 and looked focused on finishing off the Engineers.

But MIT was not ready to take the T home quite yet. The Engineers finally got their offensive game going, setting balls effectively and jumping out ahead for a 11-6 lead. Looking for any sort of spark, MIT and its fans were suddenly reenergized after a successful block by freshman David Thomas of a Weissbourd potential kill.

The Crimson, having faced enthusiastic squads many times before, would not relent. Eventually, the team turned to Weissbourd once again to even the frame at 21.

“Often in the third game, the team facing elimination is fighting for its life,” Baise said. I think we’ve reached a spot where we don’t panic, where we can settle down and focus on our serves, and don’t give up leads as much anymore. I attribute that to our mental game, and we’re playing with more confidence.”

With the game still close, Harvard started to pull away slowly, relying on another service ace by Weissbourd and a kill by senior Jeff Nathan to put the Crimson up by two. Finally, an attack error by MIT junior Eric Reuland gave Harvard the win.

“Everybody’s been playing pretty much as well as they could possibly be,” Weissbourd said. “It feels good playing on the court with these guys, and even though the freshmen are young, they’ve really stepped up.”

The Crimson will have a week off before traveling down to NYU and Sacred Hart for two crucial league matches. In the meantime, the team will take a few days to nurse injuries before getting back on the court.

“We have a lot of injuries, and there are only nine of us,” Weissbourd said. “We’ll take two to three days off and then resume training. NYU is going to be a huge game, and that’s the one team we hate the most.”

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.