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Months of strength training and weeks of preparation led up to this point—a pair of Illinois matches to open the Harvard men’s volleyball season.

For the occasion, the Crimson traveled to Chicago. Junior setter Marko Kostich and sophomore setter Spencer Scott grew up in nearby suburbs, so the plane-ride trip provided a homecoming.

However, heavyweights Lewis and Loyola (Ill.) gave a cold welcome. On Friday night, the No. 8 Flyers (3-1) eked out a five-set win, and on Saturday afternoon, the No. 9 Ramblers (3-2) swept to victory.

Harvard (0-2) will have three more chances to pick up a nonconference win before EIVA play starts in mid-February.

“If you start the season playing good opponents, you get used to a high level of play,” junior outside hitter Brad Gretsch said. “You can either replicate it or find a way to defend against it, which will be the case with some teams that we’ll see in our conference play.”

NO. 9 LOYOLA (Ill.) 3, HARVARD 0

A kill. Another kill. A service ace.

That’s how Loyola ended the match on Saturday, sending the Crimson packing after a lopsided stretch to close the third frame.

In that final game, the score seesawed to 10-10 until the Ramblers took eight of the next nine points. That run, which ultimately gave Loyola a 25-14 win, buried any Harvard hopes of escaping a 2-0 set hole.

“Their middle was really effective,” captain Samuel Murphy said. “They have some big guys in the middle there, and they run that set very quickly.”

The Crimson faced a deficit in the first place because of a torturous opening frame. Harvard overcame a 15-11 gap to tie the game at 24-24. But Loyola nabbed the next two points after attacking errors by Harvard.

On the afternoon, the Crimson hit .146, including .036 in the last game. Captain Casey White led the team with seven kills on 23 attempts.

Much more efficient was the Ramblers’ attack, which notched 44 kills versus 11 errors. In the second set, the hosts hit a mind-blowing .667, exactly .500 above Harvard, and cruised to a 25-17 victory.

Paul Narup led the way for Loyola with 10 kills and a .643 hitting percentage, but three other teammates notched at least seven finishes. The Harvard defense struggled to contain the attack, as the visitors did not record a block in the final set-and-a-half.

“I thought our energy level was kind of low,” Gretsch said. “We faltered off after that first set.”

NO. 8 LEWIS 3, HARVARD 2

Freshman outside hitter Erik Johnsson was serving, and the Crimson had life.

Down 14-9 in a fifth-set tiebreaker, Harvard had seemed headed for defeat. But on three match straight points, the Crimson had repelled the Flyers, closing the gap to 14-12.

When Johnsson, who had 10 kills on the night, leapt into the air, the result remained in doubt. But when the rookie landed, that contest was decided. A service error ended the marathon night and handed Loyola a 3-2 win.

It was an achievement for Harvard even to push the match to five sets. In the third set, the Flyers had launched a sustained assault, grabbing 10 of the final 11 points to claim a 25-13 frame.

The Crimson had responded by staying close in the fourth. And then, when Loyola led 23-22, Harvard had won the next three points off two kills and an attack error to force a tiebreaker.

“It’s tough when you’re playing a strong team and you know there are going to be stretches when they’re playing well,” Murphy said. “We did a pretty good job of staying with the match.”

White topped the Crimson with 11 kills, and he added 10 digs for the double-double. However, the night belonged to the Flyers’ Ryan Coenen, who racked up 23 finishes and 10 digs.

Coenan tallied nine of these kills in the first game, when Loyola ripped off a 6-0 run early in play to seize control. The final set score was 25-18.

As in the fourth game, though, Harvard answered with a frame of its own. In this case, the Crimson took control early, repelled a mid-set comeback, and earned a 25-19 win.

All night, Harvard had found a way to come back—all night, that is, until the final set.

“The only way you really know where you stand in terms of the competition is when you play the top teams,” Murphy said. “We’re encouraged by the potential we saw.”

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