Though the Crimson jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fifth game, the resurgent Rams attacked, going on a 10-4 run to establish a two-point cushion.

Harvard fought back and erased the deficit, setting the stage for a mysterious play.

With the score tied at 13, one of the referees called a double-hit violation on URI, apparently giving the Crimson match point. But after a huddled conversation among the officials, the tally was removed from the scoreboard and the point was replayed.

Rather than letting the confusion get into their heads, the Harvard players maintained their focus, setting up two match points at 14-13 and 15-14 before prevailing on an untouched ace from the jump-serving Mahon.

“Usually, a call like that can swing the momentum back to the other team,” co-captain Sarah Cebron said. “So it was really huge for us to be able to get that sideout on the next point.”

The Crimson showed its mettle throughout the match. In the first frame, Harvard came back from a 25-18 deficit to within three points before eventually losing 30-25.

And in the following game, the Crimson squeezed out a 30-28 victory against the older and more experienced Rams.

Most importantly, however, Harvard bounced back to a fifth-frame victory after being routed 30-20 in the fourth game, with Mays (23 assists, five digs, four blocks) and classmate Kathryn McKinley (eight kills, eight digs)—playing in only the second match of their collegiate careers—proving instrumental down the stretch.

“It’s really exciting because after losing [the Class of ’05], everyone in the league is not really looking at us as a challenge,” Mahon said. “But we’ve got some great new players, and we haven’t even seen the best of them yet.”

BOSTON COLLEGE 3, HARVARD 2

If the rest of the play is as good as the opening scene, the drama may close with another Ivy championship banner hanging in the rafters.

Coming out swinging in its first match of the season, the underdog Crimson gave the Eagles (3-3) a run for their money in on Friday night, pushing BC to five frames before finally succumbing 3-2 (21-30, 31-29, 30-23, 26-30, 15-11).

In a contest that featured 23 ties and 10 lead changes, Harvard showed that despite the graduation of front liners Kaego Ogbechie and Nilly Schweitzer, as well as setter Kim Gould, the Crimson was a force to be reckoned with.

“Boston College was on fire last night,” Mahon said. “We always have a tough match with them—it goes either way—but we gave them a great match.”

At first, things couldn’t look worse for Harvard. The Eagles tossed in four kills and an ace, firing off seven consecutive tallies before the Crimson could respond with even one of its own. But Harvard steadily chipped away at the lead, pulling to within two after a BC service error.