Box Score
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Harvard rallied for a 3-1 win over visiting NJIT in EIVA Hay Division men's volleyball action Saturday afternoon at Malkin Center in the season finale for both squads.
Both teams competed last week in Newark with the Highlanders gaining the upper hand, 3-1. Saturday's result 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16 ended the season for NJIT. The Highlanders wrap up the season (7-20, 1-7 in the conference) while Harvard closes out the season (9-13, 1-7 in the conference).
Harvard had the top kill leader in the match – Matt Jones with 24 kills on 41 attempts and six errors for a .439 hitting percentage. Teammate Chris Gibbons added 13 kills and a match-high 11 digs for the Crimson.
The Crimson's Derek Jansma and Rob Lothman spilt time at the setting position Saturday. Jansma posted 27 and Lothman combined for 24 assists and seven digs.
Harvard's top blockers on the day were Kyle Rehkemper with seven total blocks (one solo, six assists) and Jones with (six block assists).
The Highlanders were paced by sophomore Kevin Van Oss's 16 kills and freshman Herman Kantushov added 10 kills on 19 swings with just one error for a .474 hitting percentage.
Sophomore setter Doug Battersby piled up a match-high 36 assists. Battersby was four assists shy his season-high 40, accomplished on April 9 vs. Harvard in Newark.
Libero Brady Smith dug-up a team-high eight digs followed by Adam Gustafson's seven digs. Gustafson added six kills.
The opening set saw the teams trade points early, tying the score at 7-7. The Crimson were able to take nine of the next 12 points behind kills from Jones, Gibbons and Rehkemper, who also added a service ace to give Harvard a 16-10 lead. Rehkemper followed with another service ace, before NJIT scored four straight points, closing the gap to 17-14. Jones, Gibbons and Mansour would each notch kills giving Harvard a 25-19 set victory.
The Highlanders, down early in the second set, rallied back taking an 18-16 lead, on a Crimson error. Kills by Jones, followed by a Rehkemper kill, put Harvard back on top, 19-18. Jones would tally two more kills late in the set and put Harvard up 2-0 with a 25-21 win.
The third set saw 11 ties, the last at 21-21 on a kill by Harvard's Jones. Back-to-back kills by Van Oss pushed the Highlander lead to 23-21. Jones answered with a kill of his own pulling within one of the visitors, 23-22. Adam Feehan recorded his only kill of the set for a 25-23 victory.
In the fourth set, the home team jumped out to a 12-2 lead. The Highlanders slimmed the lead to 22-15 on an attack error by Harvard but the Crimson rallied off the next two points for a 24-16 lead. A kill by Harvard's Shaun Mansour ended the match, 25-16.
Van Oss led the Highlanders on the season with 200 kills (2.06kps), service aces 23 (0.24sas) and total blocks 57 (0.59 bps).
Matthew Lui led the team with 483 assists (7.67aps) while Gustafson who split time at the setting position piled up 313 (3.23).
Smith dug-up a team-high 218 digs (2.34dps) followed by Gustafson with 173 (1.78dps).
