Credit: GR Productions
Pirates Steal a Win Before Leaving Harvard Invitational
Published: Sunday, September 14, 2025
by Nick Diodato
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The Seton Hall Pirates (5-4) won an absolute nail-biter on Sunday afternoon 3-2 against the Harvard Crimson (0-5) in their second and final match of their weekend at the Harvard Invitational.
The Pirates and the Crimson came into the game looking for a win coming out of the
weekend, as both teams lost to Washington State, the third team at the invitational.
In their first ever matchup, both teams were firing on all cylinders, with the Pirates
taking the first two sets.
Set one was the closest of them all, with the lead never going past three on both
sides of the net. Harvard started with three quick points with a kill from Ali Farquhar
and two service aces. The Pirates then got five fast points with three kills, a service
ace, and a Harvard attack error.
This same back and forth continued for the rest of the match, until Senna Roberts–Navarro
had a crunch time kill to win the set 25-23.
Set two started with Seton Hall in control, jumping out to a quick 7-2 lead with two
kills each from Daria Safian and Sadie Reich. Harvard continued to look sloppy, and
the Pirates held a commanding seven-point lead until point twenty, when the Crimson
again pushed a comeback and cut the lead to three.
Two more kills from Safian and one more from Reich led the charge before freshman
Alex Rasmussen put the last kill down, winning the match for the Pirates 25-18.
Set three seemed like it was going to be an easy pull away for the Pirates. A close
set was played until the tenth point. From this point on, it was the Pirates who played
a slow and dull set, committing many attack errors, bringing Harvard’s lead up to
seven.
Multiple kills from Crimson Sophomore Taylor Larkin gave them a large ten-point lead,
before Senior Brynne Faltinsky hit the set winning kill, winning 25-15.
Set four was another close one. Yet again, the lead on both sides did not go past
four points. Brynne Faltinsky again was the star of the set, with five kills, four
of which were Harvard's final six points to get them the 25–23 win.
At this point, it had looked like Seton Hall was out again. However, it became evident
that they were not leaving without a win. Right out of the gate, the Pirates were
commanding throughout this set, and Harvard did not lead once throughout it. Three
kills from Safian and two more from Reich made this an easy win for the Pirates, 15-7.
In an all-out back and forth battle, Seton Hall was able to stop the comeback by Harvard
and take home the 3-2 win. Safian was the star of the day with a career high sixteen
kills, .438 attack percentage, all while only picking up two attack errors.
The Pirates leave the Harvard Invitational at 1-1 for the weekend and 5-4 overall.
Their next campaign will be on Friday at the Maryland Invitational, where they will
first face off against Maryland at 7:00 P.M.
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