Harvard managed to overcome a tremendous defensive display by Brown to grab a 3-2 (32-34, 31-29, 30-26, 26-30, 15-13) victory Friday night at the Pizzitola Center.

The Bears were swept by the Crimson just two weeks earlier, but Brown forged a 95-73 advantage in digs and an 11-9 lead in total blocks in this contest allowing it to push Harvard to the limit.

The Bears outhit the Crimson as well, recording a .211 hitting percentage to the Crimson’s .170. But Brown’s 12 service errors and 40 attack errors ultimately proved to be its undoing.

“On the whole, I think we have a stronger offense,” Mahon said. “Despite their higher numbers [of kills], we were more consistent. They had a lot of kills in pockets, but we were more consistent in when we had our kills.”

Ogbechie led the Crimson with 18 kills and was one of three Harvard players—including Schweitzer and Mahon—to post a double-double in kills and digs.

The Crimson came out firing in game five, putting Brown in a hole quickly. The Bears began to fight their way out of it, but ran out of points as Harvard held on for the 15-13 win.

“We had some breakdowns—it was mostly letting strings of points go by—but for the most part we definitely stepped it up, and in the fifth game, we were steady,” Mahon said. “We got off to a quick start and a quick lead, and then we pulled through.”

The victory moved the Crimson to 3-1 in five-game matches in Ivy play.

Harvard had won two straight games heading into the fourth frame and seemed to have broken Brown’s early momentum. But the Bears fought back, taking game four 30-26 to force the decisive fifth frame.

Brown opened up the contest looking to put forth a better showing than it had against the Crimson in October. The strong defense and blocking allowed the Bears to hang around in the first game and some key Harvard miscues gave Brown a 34-32 win in the opening frame.

“In the first game we were really frustrated that we let it get away, because we made some errors,” co-captain Kim Gould said. “We really played better after that first game—it was a reality check.”

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.