HARVARD 3, PRINCETON 0

Dillon Gym in Princeton, N.J. is typically a tough place to play. The Tigers have posted an above-.500 winning percentage in EIVA play in the past four seasons, and Harvard has lost two of its last three road contests against Princeton.

But last Friday night, the Crimson shook off recent history and a slow start to drop the two-win Tigers in three sets.

“Playing Princeton is a very big game for us because they’re the only other Ivy League team that has men’s volleyball,” Schlossman said. “That was a big emotional win on Friday.”

Most of the drama was concentrated in the first game, when the Tigers fended off a pair of game points to force a tiebreak.

Four times Harvard took a one-point lead; four times Princeton repelled the effort. It was only at 29-28 that an attack error by the Tigers’ Kendall Ratter concluded the set.

By the third frame, the back-and-forth competition had ended. The Crimson won the first three points of the game, took a 12-4 lead, and glided to a 25-20 win.

Clemens totaled 16 finishes in three sets, and sophomores Gretsch and Riley Moore added eight apiece. Overall the team hit .418, led by the .556 rate posted by freshman middle blocker Trevor Dow.

A turning point came midway through the second frame, when a 5-2 Harvard run negated an early Princeton lead. The two teams proceeded to trade points before a kill by sophomore setter Marko Kostich claimed the set for the Crimson, 25-21.

“The takeaway from the weekend is, we really did some things well but still have a lot to work on,” Clemens said. “Hopefully [we’ll] become more consistent.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com