Just call him the playmaker. As the only starting freshman on the Harvard men’s volleyball team, right side hitter Gil Weintraub is already carving himself a powerful position on the Crimson.

Filling in as the backup setter for captain Dave Fitz, Weintraub plays a unique role on the team, switching between hitting and setting positions.

“It’s definitely a totally different mentality going from hitting to setting,” Weintraub said. “Hitting, you go up hit as hard as you can, and so it’s a single focus. But as a setter, you have to know what each person needs to get them going, what’s their type of ball, whether they need encouragement, whether they need to be yelled at, what do you need to get each person going. You’re kind of a sponge cleaning up everyone’s mess.”

Weintraub’s strength in both positions gives Harvard an advantage that most other teams lack, as a back-up setter both safeguards the offense in the case of an injury and allows the Crimson to run a variety of different plays.

“Gil is a very important part of our offense—he’s our right side hitter, and if I’m not setting, he will also be the setter.” Fitz said. “He gets a lot of sets in the games because he can set on the right side and the left. Now that we have Gil, if I were to go down [with an injury], we don’t miss a beat. If I go down for a dig and if I can’t set a ball on the second touch, he can set a perfect touch.”

In addition to giving Harvard an edge during games, Weintraub’s role on the team also changes the way practices are run. Not only does Weintraub’s position as a second setter allow the Crimson to simulate more game-like situations, but it also drives his older teammates to play harder and strive for improvement.

“It pushes me in practice because I see that Gil has great hands, and if I’m not pulling my side, coach can put Gil in, and he won’t miss a beat,” Fitz said. “It pushes me to be better.”

While Weintraub’s skill brings the team to a new level of play, his attitude on the court encourages Harvard to play with passion.

“I kind of like to view myself as a sparkplug to get people going, jumping around on the court, trying to get people up,” Weintraub said. “I think what we miss the most sometimes is that little intensity and that little fire, so whenever we get a big play, I try to get everyone in the middle of the court and get that intensity going.”

Even when he first took the court, Weintraub proved his excitement for the game by coming out with high energy and a fun spirit.

“I remember before our first game, I was wondering what I was going to do when they called out my name, what hand signal I was going to do,” Weintraub said. “That was probably my biggest worry.”

But it wasn’t always this easy for Weintraub. He remembers the awkwardness of not knowing any of his older teammates, who had already grown incredibly close to one another. But now, he says, he feels a part of this “tight-knit crew.”

“Everyone’s kind of taken me under their wing, and we hang out a lot together,” Weintraub said. “We’re kind of a nice little family.”

Despite his comparative youth on the starting lineup, Weintraub is clearly an asset to the team: he has already racked up 27 kills, 42 sets and 18 digs this season.

“It’s very important that we have Gil as a freshman and that he’s getting all this experience playing. Skill-wise and talent-wise, he’s just as good as everyone else on the team,” Fitz said. “The only thing he has less of is experience, and he’s going to get it. I definitely see Gil stepping it up in a leadership position. He already is a vocal presence on the court, and he has the skills to back up what he says.”

But it’s not just Weintraub’s voice that calls attention to his presence on the court. His versatility marks him as a force to be reckoned with this year and in the years to come.

“He’s the future of Harvard volleyball,” Fitz said. “He’s where I’d like this team to go.”

—Staff writer Courtney D. Skinner can be reached at cskinner@fas.harvard.edu.