Cambridge, Mass. – January 28, 2012 – The Springfield College men’s volleyball team couldn’t find its rhythm after winning it last two matches as it fell on the road to Harvard in three sets on Saturday evening. The Crimson won by the scores of 25-22, 25-19, 25-19.

Springfield dropped to 2-4 with the loss.

After hitting a sparkling .576 in a three-set win over Endicott on Friday night, the Pride was limited to just a .160 attack percentage on Saturday.

John Coen had a team-best eight kills, while classmate Mike Pelletier tallied six kills at a .500 clip. Mike Becker totaled 22 assists and three aces, and Mike Freytag chipped in with a team-best three blocks. On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Ferry posted eight digs.

Harvard was able to gain the early advantage in the opening set, jumping out to a 12-6 lead. The Crimson continued to pour on the pressure riding the offense of Matt Jones, Caleb Zimmick and Nick Madden extending its lead to 20-14. Harvard pushed it to set point but Springfield mounted a comeback reeling off eight straight points thanks to the adept serving of Pelletier. With the score 24-22 it was Jones that would clinch the set, slamming down a kill which earned Harvard a 1-0 lead.

In the second set Harvard once again jumped out in front early opening up a slim 12-10 lead. The Pride and Crimson exchanged several points until Harvard pulled away off of a setting error making it 15-13. Harvard gained steam as they rode a 10-6 run to close out the set 25-19. Jones recorded three of the final 10 points in the set.

After opening with an early 10-6 lead, Springfield went on a 7-3 run, knotting the set up at 13 apiece. Teams exchanged points until  two straight kills from DJ White put Harvard up 22-19. That would make all the difference as the Crimson went on to score the set’s final three points to close out the match 3-0.

Harvard got offense from familiar sources throughout the match as Jones led with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .682, meanwhile Madden registered 11 kills. The freshman tandem of Zimmick and White provided offense of its own combining for 15 kills. Zimmick once again strong at the net, leading the team with five of the teams 12 blocks.

The Pride will play once again on Wednesday as it takes on Division III-foe Emmanuel at 7:00 pm.