The atmosphere was unpleasant and the play was choppy at best, but in the end the Harvard men’s volleyball team was able to live up to its primary historical precedent—beating MIT.

The Crimson (8-5, 6-5 EIVA) needed five games to overcome the pesky Engineers (12-14, 9-9 NECVA), winning a 3-2 contest last night at MIT’s Zesiger Center.

Neither side could gain a comfortable lead in the final frame, but Harvard was able to forge ahead by a small margin late.

The Crimson held this advantage, edging out MIT to take the fifth game and the match, 15-12.

“Before the fifth game, the guys just looked around at each other,” said sophomore middle blocker Seamus McKiernan.

“We remembered that it wasn’t about the last four games, and we were really focused coming out for the fifth. But they still played us very tough,” he added.

“We played our best volleyball of the night [in game five],” said freshman setter Dave Fitz.

Harvard had an opportunity to close the match out in four games, but the Engineers capitalized on Crimson mistakes en route to a 30-28 win.

“All through game four we had bad sets and bad hits and that allowed [MIT] to take the game,” Fitz said.

The close loss in game four came on the heels of an emotional triumph in the third frame.

Harvard fell behind early and trailed 26-22 late before pulling out a 31-29 victory on the strength of a 6-0 run.

“It was a general theme that we’d get down early and claw our way back,” McKiernan said. “A lot of that was based on our energy level. We didn’t come out in each game very pumped up and that resulted in a lot of mistakes.”

The Crimson and the Engineers split two close games to open up the match.

Harvard took the opening frame, while MIT responded with a close win the second game.

“Early in the match, it seemed like we weren’t a team, but we were [just] six individuals on the floor,” Fitz said.

The Crimson also cited the poor playing conditions as a reason for why the traditionally easy matchup became so contentious.

“The dim lighting made it kind of a sleepy gym,” McKiernan said.

“The gym itself was pretty crappy,” Fitz said. “The lighting was horrible, and it was difficult to adjust to.”

The Engineers were celebrating senior night—a factor which contributed to their inspired play.

“They were definitely playing their best match,” McKiernan said.

But Harvard remained confident throughout the match, drawing on history as a source of motivation.

“We have a general policy of never losing to MIT, and we certainly fulfilled that tonight,” McKiernan said. “We still know we could have played a lot better.”

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