In the third set, Harvard began an early run to take a 10-5 lead. But the Scarlet Raiders fought back and responded with lengthy runs of their own.

Tied at 20, Rutgers-Newark began a 4-0 run, fueled by a service ace and two Crimson attack errors, and the Scarlet Raiders continued to a 25-21 victory to get a foothold back into the match.

The Crimson rebounded in the fourth set, as more errors from Rutgers-Newark and three late blocks from sophomore middle hitter Will Chambers propelled Harvard to the 3-1 victory, 25-18.

NJIT 3, HARVARD 1

After the Crimson’s decisive 3-0 victory against NJIT (11-16, 5-7) two weekends before at home, Harvard expected to take care of business against the Highlanders Friday night on its home court.

But early on, NJIT showed it had forgotten the results of the past. Despite seven kills in the first frame from Jones, the Highlanders made a late charge and took the first set, 25-21.

The second set proved to be tight, as no team ever established a lead of more than three.

Trading points all the way to overtime, Harvard had the advantage at 27-26 over NJIT. But the Highlanders were able to string together a 3-0 run to take the key set and a 2-0 lead.

And though the Crimson got one back, 25-23, the Highlanders outhit Harvard in the fourth set and were able to take the match with a 25-22 victory.

“We just didn’t finish when we needed to,” Jones said. “In a close match like that, it’s just only a few points here and there and usually we take care of those. But on that night we didn’t.”

But for Jones, the match served as a good motivator for more hard work before the EIVA playoffs.

“We have to stay hungry and play sharp all the time, and we didn’t come to play sharp,” Jones said. “It was a good reminder that we really need to work hard in the next 10 days to get ready for the playoffs.”

—Staff writer Peter G. Cornick can be reached at pcornick@college.harvard.edu.