Cambridge, Mass. – The Red Flash men's volleyball team (3-8, 0-2 EIVA) is spending the weekend in New England to take on conference foes Harvard (8-3, 2-1 EIVA) and Sacred Heart (4-4, 0-3 EIVA) on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Scouting Harvard
Harvard sits third in the EIVA right now with a 2-1 record and an impressive 8-3 overall record. Over the last seven matches, the Crimson are 6-1, including a split with #15 George Mason. Harvard will host SFU and #9 Penn State over the weekend.
Harvard has registered more kills (510-488), more assists (471-451) and a better attack percentage (.290-.224) than its opponents. The offense is led by sophomore Campbell Schoenfeld, who has 150 kills and 58 digs while hitting .285. Sophomore Eric Li is second on the team with 96 kills, and four other Crimson players have at least 40 kills. Picking up the assists for Harvard is Matthew Ctvrlik, who has 419 of the team's 471.
On defense, four Crimson players have at least 20 block assists, with Ethan McCrary leading the way (25, 4 solo). Senior libero Chase Howard has 97 digs, good for best on the team.
Series History: Harvard leads, 11-7
Harvard and SFU have split the season series every year since 2015. Last season, Harvard won in Loretto, but the Red Flash took the match in Cambridge in five sets. In the win, Joshua Blair (Matterson. Illnois/Marian Catholic) had nine kills and Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Christian Graziano (Williamsville, N.Y./Willamsville South) each added seven.
Scouting Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart is 4-4 to start the season and holds an 0-3 EIVA record, currently in last place. The Pioneers are on a three-match losing streak after falling to Barton and twice to conference foe Charleston. Sacred Heart will host #9 Penn State on Friday night before the Red Flash comes to town on Saturday.
The Pioneers are behind their opponents in kills (337-357) and assists (317-331), but are ahead in attack percentage (.271-.210), digs (284-274) and total blocks (63-47).
Offensively, seniors Calin Butler, Connor Mahony and Rob Chatterton have 82, 79 and 64 kills – the top three on the team. The top assist-getter for the Pioneers is senior setter Ramiro Balaguer, who has 248 of the team's 317.
Defensively, Chatterton leads the team by far in blocks. He has 34 block assists and eight solo blocks, over double the number of blocks by the next man. Senior Timothy McIntosh leads the Pioneers with 73 digs, followed by Kakos (61) and Butler (46).
Series History: SFU leads, 16-3
The Red Flash has dominated the series, winning seven of the past eight matchups. Last season, SFU swept SHU. In their last battle, Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) chipped in seven kills and Cole Carver (Hershey, PA/Hershey) and Joshua Blair (Matterson. Illnois/Marian Catholic) each added four blocks to lead SFU to a 3-1 victory in Fairfield.
Close Calls
This past weekend, SFU lost to NJIT in four sets and #11 Princeton in five. In the Princeton match, SFU led 2-1 and sat at match point four times before dropping the fourth set, 33-31, and eventually the match. Wins this weekend would help the Red Flash take the next step and work its way up with EIVA play heating up.
EIVA Leaderboards
Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) continues to sit second in the conference with 156 kills and 3.82 kills per set.
