Rally Falls Short as Springfield Tops Men's Volleyball, 3-1

Soren Rosier posted seven blocks for the Crimson (photo courtesy of Gil Talbot).

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Harvard men's volleyball team dropped a non-division match to Springfield, 3-1, Tuesday evening at the Blake Arena. Sophomore Nikola Ivica tallied 19 kills and nine digs and senior Erik Kuld recorded 15 kills and 13 digs.

The first two sets of the evening, both teams battled for the lead at the beginning before the Springfield Pride pulled away and held a two set advantage heading in to the third set.  

In the third set, Harvard jumped out to an early 8-3 lead before Springfield capitalized on kills and Crimson service errors to take a 17-14 lead. A kill by senior Gil Weintraub sparked the Crimson offense to a 9-3 run to regain the lead at 23-20. The home team rallied and came within one point of claiming the set before Harvard scored five unanswered points, capped off with a kill by Kuld, to pick up a 31-29 win and force a fourth set.

In the fourth set, Harvard battled from a 19-13 deficit to tie the score at 24-24. Each team had several opportunities to score the match point, but the set wasn't decided until Springfield's AJ Nally recorded a kill and sophomore Matt Jones committed an error for the home team to claim a 37-35 win.

Harvard tallied 61 kills and 49 digs in the match. Senior Soren Rosier posted a team-high seven blocks.

The Crimson returns home to host conference opponent NYU Saturday evening at the Malkin Athletic Center. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.