CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard men's volleyball (3-4, 1-0 EIVA) kept their winning streak alive this afternoon by downing Charleston (7-4, 0-1 EIVA) in a five-set thriller. Battling the Golden Eagles in the Malkin Athletic Center for the second straight day the victory gave the Crimson its fourth straight win and its first 2-0 conference start since 2014.
The Crimson opened the match right where they picked up yesterday against the Golden Eagles. While only pulling ahead by small margins throughout the first half of the set, an 11-4 scoring run which included six total kills across attacks from
Trevor Schultz,
Logan Shepherd,
Zach Berty, and
Owen Fanning gave the Crimson a 23-14 lead. Harvard did not allowed the Golden Eagles to gain any momentum before a monster Berty kill solidified the first set.
Despite Harvard taking some leads early in the second, Charleston was able to reverse the score of the previous set in their favor. With a 25-17 second set for the Golden Eagles, the match was tied at one all.
Charleston carried their momentum into the third set, pulling out to a lead as large as four. As the score stood at 10-7 in favor of the foe, Harvard was able to go on a short 3-0 scoring run, ignited by a Shepherd kill and a Schultz ace, to tie the set.
While Charleston was able to take some leads throughout the remainder of the third, Harvard never allowed the deficit to fall over two points. Ultimately, the Crimson were able to hang on, 25-23, to retake the lead as
James Bardin powered home an ace for set point.
With the Crimson looking to close out the match and the Golden Eagles hoping to force a fifth set two squads tied six different times throughout the first 26 points. With the set tied at 13-13, Charleston went on a 4-0 scoring run to create some distance. Despite the Golden Eagles having a strong lead, Harvard staged a comeback, fighting off three set points before falling, 25-23.
With the match even at two sets a piece, Harvard pulled out to small leads at several occasions throughout the early points. Following a Berty kill, the Crimson were out to a 7-4 lead, forcing Charleston to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Golden Eagles were able to even the score at 9-9 and play remained back-and-forth throughout the remainder of the final set.
Owen Fanning slammed home a kill to force match point and a Charleston service error would later seal the fifth set and the match in favor of Harvard.
Harvard Highlights
- By defeating Charleston for the second straight time today, the Crimson improved to 2-0 in conference action for the first time since the 2014 season.
- Both Logan Shepherd and Owen Fanning had dominant days on the offensive end by contributing 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Both kill totals mark career-highs for the juniors.
- With nine kills, Schultz posted the best hitting percentage of the night with .467 following 15 total attacks.
- James Bardin put up personal season bests in kills (6), assists (42), and aces (2). The junior also added six digs and four total blocks throughout the contest.
- The Crimson posted a season-high for both kills and hitting percentage by slamming home 53 kills for a hitting percentage of .336.
- Harvard's 20 total blocks nearly doubled up its previous season best of 11. Ethan Smith (5.0), Schultz (4.0), Shepherd (3.5), Fanning (3.0), and Bardin (3.0) each contributed three or more total blocks to put up a dominant defensive day at the net.
- With its two wins this weekend, the Crimson improve to 9-5 all-time against the Golden Eagles. The victory last night broke a four-game losing streak versus Charleston.
Next Up
The Crimson will close out its eight-match home stand and continue EIVA action next weekend as its welcomes the No. 15 Princeton Tigers to the Malkin Athletic Center.
