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Well rested and well positioned, the Harvard men’s volleyball team entered the William H. Pitt Center with high hopes.

The Crimson (9-8, 5-3 EIVA) hadn’t played a match since a March 14 loss to California Baptist and hadn’t faced a conference foe since playing Sacred Heart nine days before that.

On Saturday night, still owning a claim to second place in the EIVA, Harvard suited up to face the Pioneers (6-12, 4-4) once more. Last time had been a relaxed three-set victory that kicked off the month of March.

But as they say: in like a lion, out like a lamb. In a 3-0 defeat, the Crimson resembled a timid version of its former self, hitting to .187 on a night when the closest set was 25-17.

“We were especially flat,” captain Branden Clemens said. “I think we’re a good team, but I don’t think we’re a talented enough team that we can cruise through teams.”

Meanwhile Sacred Heart played at historic levels of efficiency. The Pioneers finished with a .412 kill rate, the fourth-highest mark in program history, and opened play by hitting a scorching .484 in the first game.

For all the mishits and missteps that Harvard made, it was simply Sacred Heart’s night.

“That’s definitely the best I’ve seen them play,” senior outside hitter Alec Schlossman said. “It seemed like they couldn’t make a mistake…. Their offense was clicking on all cylinders, and our defense really wasn’t doing much to slow them down.”

The Crimson led once all match: after the first point of the third set. But any flicker of optimism blew out abruptly, as the Pioneers took four of the next five points.

While a mid-set 3-0 run steadied Harvard and pushed the count to a competitive 9-8, Sacred Heart responded with a 3-0 run of its own. The Crimson never came closer in a 25-17 set defeat.

During the frame, Harvard compiled a dismal .107 kill percentage, the lowest rate of the night. Overall the highest efficiency mark that any player tallied was .333—and that number belonged to the setter, sophomore Marko Kostich.

The Pioneers shot to an immediate lead, winning the first three points of the contest. The score spiraled from there, and by the time Sacred Heart held a 7-2 advantage, Crimson coach Brian Baise was compelled to use an early timeout.

The stoppage of play only paused the damage, as the Pioneers continued the demolition when they returned to the floor. The set ended—mercifully—at 25-17.

Sacred Heart tallied 18 kills in the game, topped by a remarkable 11 by senior outside hitter Austin Arcala. On the night, Arcala led his side with 22 finishes, while junior outside hitter Michael Comens contributed 10. By contrast no Harvard player reached double-digit kills.

Some of the offensive inefficiency could have been attributed to a reconfigured lineup. After two weeks of inaction, junior outside hitter Casey White returned to his typical spot on the floor—but with only one day of practice under his belt.

Rustiness was one of several problems in the second frame, in which Sacred Heart copied the template of the first: win the opening three points and pile on from there. Midway through the set, the Pioneers put together their most dominant streak of the evening, taking eight of nine straight points.

The lead proved invincible, as Sacred Heart claimed the set by a margin of 10 points—the largest gap at any time during play.

“We were out of system a lot,” Clemens said. “They were able to put a lot of pressure on us offensively…. Hopefully it was just a post-spring-break kind of lull.”

While the margin of victory may have come as a surprise, the Pioneers’ competence was less shocking. This year’s EIVA boasts dense competition. There are two outliers—Penn State, which has only lost one conference match, and Charleston, which has yet to win one—but all other teams sport between three and six wins.

The result is a muddled middle, and Harvard is at dead center, now in a two-way tie for third place.

“All the teams are certainly capable of being in that top four to make it to the conference playoffs,” Schlossman said. “Now it’s going to be a little tougher. Our spot isn’t as secure as it was.

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