Despite a glimmer of hope in the third set, the Harvard men’s volleyball team fell to Stevens Institute of Technology, 3-1 (31-29, 30-27, 23-30, 30-23), at Canavan Arena on Friday.

The Crimson committed several key service errors in the fourth set that sealed the match for the Ducks (13-8, 4-2 NECVA Metro Division).

“It was a game we could’ve won, should’ve won,” Kuld said. “If we were able to play [Friday night] over again, we would’ve definitely won.”

Ivica and Jones again led the offense with 17 and 15 kills, respectively, and Weintraub handed out 44 assists on the night. Harvard also held an 8-7 advantage in team blocks, with freshman Paul Glootz recording two solo blocks.

But the real story of this game was the Crimson’s new lineup, which used the contest as a valuable experience in team building.

“We’re trying a new lineup,” Weintraub said, “[and] I thought we showed a lot of moments of brilliance.”

Harvard made a run in the first set and led SIT, 29-28, before giving up a run on the last three points to drop the set. The second set was close as well with the score tied at 25-25, before the Ducks outscored the Crimson, 5-3, to take the set. After taking the third set, Harvard could not stop SIT’s 8-3 run, which clinched the set as well as the game for the Ducks.

“We were in control of the game for a good portion of it,” Jones said. “It was just giving up those runs. The biggest part of volleyball is minimizing runs, because every team is going to make their run.”