Though the hosts recorded 17 kills to the Tiger’s 11, a number of errors from missed passes and serves caused the Crimson to lose its momentum.

Princeton’s freshman outside hitter Jeff Stapleton, who recorded 19 kills over the course of the entire match, provided the spark for the Tigers to top Harvard, 25-22, in the third frame.

“A lot of it was passing and hitting errors,” said Jones of the team’s loss in the third game. “They started blocking a little better, and we didn’t adjust really well.”

The Crimson’s messy play continued into the fourth game, with Harvard recording more errors than kills.

Princeton broke away from the Crimson at 9-9, notching seven unanswered points and 16 kills to Harvard’s six.

The faulty Crimson defense and serve-receive allowed the Tigers to win the game, 25-21, and knot the match, 2-2.

“We really had them there in the first game, and then we started to let up later in the match,” Gibbons said. “With a team like Princeton, you really can’t do that.”

Harvard’s struggles continued at the start of the fifth frame.

The defense was not reading blocks and gave the Tigers the opportunity to jump ahead, 7-3.

The turning point of the match came when the Crimson changed its play at the net.

Strong blocking from freshman middle blocker Kyle Rehkemper and another down-the-line kill from Gibbons sparked a rally, and Harvard grabbed its first advantage at 9-8.

The Crimson did not look back, completing a 12-3 run that won the game, 15-10, and clinched a 3-2 victory. The win snapped a four-game losing streak.

“When we got down in the third and fourth games, [coach Baise] just came out and told us it’s whoever wants it more,” Gibbons said. “We weren’t going to lose this match, and that’s what made the difference.”