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[Editor’s note: Off the Block in collaboration with the EIVA is presenting The Top 15 EIVA Non-Conference Matches. This list spotlights the best non-conference matches scheduled for EIVA teams in 2019 and will be the first time several of these matches have been publicly announced. Harvard versus Barton is ranked No. 15 on the list.]
The defending EIVA champions will travel south during the upcoming season to play the likely preseason favorite to win the ConfCarolinas.
Harvard informed Off the Block that it will play a non-conference road match against Barton in March.
This will be the first time in their program history the Crimson play a road match versus a ConfCarolinas team. Harvard in its only previous meetings against the ConfCarolinas swept Erskine in 2013 and swept King in 2016.
The Crimson finished last season winning their first EIVA championship and qualified for the seven-team NCAA Tournament. In addition, Harvard’s won the conference title after rebounding from 1-8 start to the season.
Among the four Crimson starters returning from that championship team includes All-EIVA setter Matthew Ctvrtlik.
Barton a year removed from reaching the NCAA Tournament ended the 2018 season winning a share of the ConfCarolinas regular season title and making the conference tournament finals.
The Bulldogs return multiple all-conference starters, including opposite Angelos Mandilaris. Mandilaris as a sophomore was the 2018 ConfCarolinas Offensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the Division II National Player of the Year.
Barton is 2-5 all-time versus the EIVA, but both those wins were the only times that the Bulldogs had a home matches against the conference.
The match at Barton will be part of a two-match ConfCarolinas road trip for the Crimson. Harvard a day following this match will play Mount Olive on March 19.