Endicott strikes past Harvard, 3-1
Feb. 12, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - After dropping a 30-24 game one decision, Endicott College rifled off three-straight wins to record its first-ever victory over Harvard University, 3-1, in a non-conference men's volleyball contest in Beverly, Massachusetts.
The Crimson and the Gulls exchanged points throughout the opening moments of game one. A strong serving effort from Jordan Weitzen (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) paced the visitors to an 8-6 lead early on. A big solo block upfront from Endicott's A.J. Witkofsky (Scotia, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) brought the Gulls back to even as he turned away a Gil Weintraub (Encino, Calif./University City) kill attempt, evening the contest at 12-all. Harvard regained its slight two-point advantage as the Crimson capitalized on an Endicott miscue to pull ahead, 19-17. That two-point lead would prove to be enough for Harvard, as the Crimson took a 30-24 game one decision.
The back-and-forth battle continued into the beginning of game two as the Gulls wiped away an early Harvard advantage with a big block from Zeke Kubisch (Bethlehem, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) and Jordan Durant (Honolulu, Hawaii/Maryknool School) on a Jamie Crooks (San Diego, Calif./Gross Mount) kill attempt. The closely contested contest continued into the midpoint of game two, with neither able to build more than a two point advantage. Following a Harvard timeout, Zeke Kubisch gave Endicott its largest lead of the night as he notched a kill on the far side to put EC up, 23-20. From there, the Blue and Green rattled off three straight scores, forcing the visitors to burn another timeout with the score 26-20. At game point, Endicott's Dan Coleman (Millis, Mass./Millis) notched a diving dig off a ball struck by Brady Weissbourd (Chicago, Ill./Walter Payton) to set up the game winning kill, propelling the Gulls to a 30-22 game two win.
Gil Weintraub served Harvard to a quick 3-0 lead to start game three. Endicott responded by grabbing four of the next six points to cut the lead to just one, 5-4. Brady Weissbourd returned the visitor's lead to three as A.J. Witkofsky narrowly missed blocking a Weissbourd kill, pushing the Crimson to an 8-5 advantage. Finding its groove, Harvard doubled its lead to six, 15-9, as they turned Endicott serving mistakes into valuable points. The Gulls rallied to slice the lead to three as Jordan Weitzen misfired on the far sideline, making the score 25-22. The hosts got the lead down to one as Durant and Kubisch again teamed-up to turn away an offensive effort by the Crimson. Unaffected by a Harvard timeout, Endicott continued its charge and grabbed its first lead of the game, 29-28. Despite the visitor's best effort, Endicott completed its comeback attempt by notching a 32-30 game three win.
The see-saw contest continued into game four, as the two squads traded points to begin the game. Ben Foster (Penfield, N.Y./Penn) dropped in an ace behind the visitor's frontline, giving Endicott a 9-8 lead. The Endicott rally continued behind the strong serving of Zeke Kubisch as the freshman pushed EC to a 14-10 advantage. The Gulls would pull ahead by as many as seven during their mid-game run, forcing the visitors to slow the tempo with a timeout. Following the break, Erik Kuld (Toronto, Canada/Upper Canada College) put together back-to-back blocks to cut the score to 22-17. Despite the late charge by Harvard, the visitor's comeback attempt would fall short as they dropped the deciding game four, 30-24.
Endicott was paced by A.J. Witkofsky's 24 kills, 11 digs and four blocks. Zeke Kubisch registered 11 kills and two aces while teammate John Emery (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) had 10 kills in the win. Dan Coleman also had 13 digs while Ben Foster dished out 48 assists for the Blue and Green.
With the win, Endicott improves to 5-6 overall (2-1 NECVA); Harvard falls to 3-2 and 2-1 in the EIVA. The Crimson return to action on Friday evening as they travel to Rutgers-Newark. Endicott retakes the court on Wednesday evening as they play host to North East Collegiate Volleyball Association foe Southern Vermont College at 7:00 p.m.