As the end of the Harvard men’s volleyball season neared, it was the middle that took the lead.

Middle hitters senior Alex Kowell and junior Juan Carlos Cardet stormed through East Stroudsberg 3-0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-20) last Friday and NJIT 3-1 last Saturday to keep the Crimson in the playoff hunt with Vassar.

On Friday, Kowell recorded 20 hits, and Cardet had 17 of his own, to overpower the Warriors.

“They weren’t able to stop the offense when we ran it well,” Kowell said. “We served aggressively and were able to work some kinks out in that match.”

The kinks in the team, due largely to a long layoff without matches over Spring Break, did not affect the outcome of Saturday’s match against the Highlanders either.

“AK and Juan Carlos were unstoppable on Saturday,” said co-captain Mike Bookman. “To hit close to .700 against a collegiate team is almost unheard of, especially considering our layoff.”

The layoff came about because Harvard’s West Coast trip was cancelled. Instead, the Crimson had four days of practice at Harvard.

“Coach Keller wants the California trip to become a permanent aspect of our schedule, and not so much a vacation, and we’re not at that stage yet,” Bookman said.

Against NJIT, the Crimson defense, improved since the addition of sophomore libero Ryland Degnan into the rotation, held out on long rallies and was able to pass the ball to the middle with dangerous efficiency.

“We used the opposite and outside a little more against NJIT, but the middle was working so well that we stayed with it for the most part,” Kowell said.

The two wins leave Harvard one match away from tying Vassar for the league lead and a playoff berth. The Crimson plays Sacred Heart in Connecticut on Wednesday.

If the tie-breaker goes to head-to-head matches, the Crimson and the Brewers have split two. However, Vassar won their match in three games, while it took Harvard five to finish off the Brewers. The game differential may represent the tie-breaker instead of a one-match playoff.

Even if the playoffs are out of the question, the Crimson want to come out strong against Sacred Heart.

“They beat us earlier in the year when we played with a different rotation,” Bookman said. “We’ve switched some things up since then and want to come out and show that we can play better than that.”

Additional incentive for a win on Wednesday is sending off the seniors with a victory. The upcoming match is potentially the last for senior leaders Kowell and Bookman.

“There is no doubt that we want to go out with a win,” Bookman said. “Every year I’ve played here, we’ve done better and better. I think we’re playing our best volleyball in a while now.”

—Staff writer Robert A. Cacace can be reached at cacace@fas.harvard.edu.