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NEWARK, NJ—The sets were competitive as the match progressed, but visiting Harvard came away with a hard-fought 3-0 sweep of NJIT in the final men's volleyball match of the 2017 season for the Highlanders Saturday afternoon in the Fleisher Athletic Center.

Saturday marked the final career games for three graduating seniors – Jabarry Goodridge, Brad Thele and Luke Robbe.

Harvard (10-13 overall, 7-7 in EVIA) won in extra sets in the first frame, 26-24, which featured 15 ties and five lead changes.  The visiting Crimson built a big early lead and held on for a 25-14 win in the second set and clinched the match with a 25-21 victory in the third set, holding on for the 3-0 sweep.

The Crimson's Erik Johnsson recorded a match-high 14 kills while setter Matthew Ctvrtlik piled up a team-best 14 assists.  Three different players notched six digs defensively for the Crimson and held a 7-0 service ace advantage, paced by Casey White's three aces.

NJIT (13-13 overall, 6-8 in EIVA) concluded the 2017 season, paced by redshirt junior Raymond Kowalski's 12 kills followed by senior Jabarry Goodridge, with 11.  Middle Luke Robbe combined for a .389 attacking percentage, posting nine kills on 18 swings with two errors.  Redshirt senior Brad Thele recorded seven kills on 14 swings for a .357 hitting percentage.

Setter Cameron Tait and Ricardo Whitaker split time at the setting position, recording 20 and 11 assists, respectively for the Highlanders.  Thele led the match with nine digs followed by Goodridge (7), Kowalski (6) and libero Shannon Heckman (7).

In the first, the Highlanders held a 6-3 advantage, however, the Crimson knotted the set for the first time at 8-8 and both teams traded points throughout the teens into the early 20's, with Harvard taking a 23-21 lead, resulting in an NJIT timeout.  The set saw two more ties, the final at 24 after a kill by Goodridge but the Crimson scored the final two points, holding onto a 26-25 victory.

Harvard recorded a .412 hitting percentage in the second frame as opposed to a .080 percentage by the Highlanders.  The Crimson jumped out to a 4-1 lead and later extended to 14-7.  NJIT cut the Crimson lead down to six on a kill by Robbe, 13-19, but the visitors went on a 6-1 run for a 25-14 win.

In the third set, Harvard took a 5-1 spurt but the Highlanders pulled to within three, 10-13, after a kill by Thele.  Harvard extended its lead to 21-15 after back-to-back kills by Johnsson, resulting in a timeout by NJIT.  The Highlanders scored three straight points, pulling within three, 21-24, but Harvard's Trevor Dow notched a kill for the final point of the match, for a 25-21 victory.