“My job is to make the offense as unpredictable as possible,” Bookman said. “The key today was that we passed well.”

During the fourth game—a dominating, 30-19 Crimson triumph—the passing was fluid.

Leading 14-11, Harvard went on a 10-4 run, keyed by two kills each from five different Crimson hitters. The last kill came when junior Juan Carlos Cardet tapped Vassar’s return right back over the heads of the Brewers’ unprepared defense.

“We wanted to go at a couple of their blockers that weren’t that big or agile,” Bookman said.

Although Harvard played superbly to begin and end the match, sandwiched in the middle was a stretch of mediocrity.

During the second and third games, the Crimson struggled to build momentum. Virtually every time Harvard began a rally, Vassar senior Jesse Lam countered with a decisive kill. Lam entered the contest averaging 4.46 kills per game, good for third in the EIVA,

But even the best player on the league’s No. 2 team was not enough to down the Crimson.

Harvard 3, NJIT 0

The first point of the match seemed to tell the story for Harvard in its 3-0 (30-23, 30-22, 30-24) win over NJIT on Saturday.

It, like the match, was over almost before it started, as sophomore outside hitter Juan Ramos slammed the ball down for a kill after only three NJIT touches.

There was no looking back for the Crimson, as it stormed to a much-needed conference win.

“Coach Keller had an inspiring pregame talk today,” Bookman said. “He declared today was going to be the day. Everyone came into the match feeling awesome.”

Harvard traded points with the Highlanders at the beginning of the match, finding itself still tied at 11-11. Finally, behind the serving of Ramos, the Crimson opened up a 17-12 lead.

By the time NJIT took a timeout at 22-15, it was too late. With steady blocking from Kowell, Harvard held on to take the first game 30-23.

“All season we’ve been plagued by a slow start,” Mosier said. “This was an enormous conference win.”