The Crimson played its best in the second and third games when it put together a solid run of these two skills. Five blocks in the early part of the second game led Harvard to jump quickly out of the gate after dropping the extended first-game heartbreaker. Especially strong was junior middle blocker Juan Cardet, who garnered chants of “chiquito” and “mamut” from his Spanish speaking fans after each of his blocks and serves.
One of the best points of the match came in the second game as well with the score at 19-16, Harvard. Tri-captain Juan Ramos extended the rally in the middle of the point with a diving, one-handed play that kept the ball in the air during the middle of the rally. Reppun later connected on a spike to win the point and give Harvard the four-point advantage.
Roger Williams came back to tie the Crimson at 26 apiece. But three stellar blocks on the Harvard side gave it the game, 30-27.
The Crimson will look to return to the winning form it showed in the middle of last night’s contest when it travels to Vassar on Saturday.
—Crimson staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.