Men’s Volleyball Downed By MIT, Mount Ida

Box Scores

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore opposite hitter Mike Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.) smashed a team-high 16 kills against Mount Ida College its second match of the day, but the Blazers fell 3-0 (13-30, 22-30, 24-30) to No. 10 MIT and 3-2 (29-31, 31-29, 24-30, 30-25, 15-11) to the Mustangs in Saturday afternoon’s men’s volleyball tri-match at Picknelly Arena

With its pair of losses, Elms falls to 4-21 on the season, 4-9 in North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division action. MIT improves to 27-7 overall, 12-2 NECVA, while Mount Ida moves to 11-12 on the season.

Elms vs. MIT

MIT received a stellar hitting performance from Alex Becherer (Wauwatosa, Wis.) who smashed 14 kills in the Engineers 3-0 sweep of the Blazers. Troy Tamas (Santa Barbara, Calif.) added six kills, while Benson George (East Meadow, N.Y.) contributed five to help guide MIT to a .260 team hitting percentage.

Setter Caine Jette (Haiku, Hawaii) handed out a match-best 27 helpers in two sets of action, while Tim Lee (Natick, Mass.) distributed 11 assists in the first frame.

Matt Hohenberger (St. Louis, Mo.) delivered six of the squad’s 14 service aces, while Becherer finished with a match-best 10 kills in the winning effort.

Elms’ sophomore outside hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) and freshman outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) combined for 12 of the Blazers’ 18 kills in the first match, downing six each in the loss.

Sophomore setter Mike Martin (Enfield, Conn.) dished out 14 assists while Cameron added a team-best seven digs.

Elms vs. Mount Ida

Elms and Mount Ida played an evenly contested final match of the day, battling to a 2-2 tie heading into the decisive fifth set.

The Blazers cruised to a 6-2 lead to start the frame behind three kills from Cameron and one from Kleckner. Mount Ida used a 7-4 run to pull to within one at 10-9 before Acosta and Martin halted the charge with an assisted block. From there, the Mustangs responded with six unanswered points thanks to two kills by Thomas Belton (Springfield, Mass.), a pair of service aces by Spencer Hastings (Orlando, Fla.) and a kill by Eddie Pinero (Inwood, N.Y.) to help seal the match for Mount Ida in thrilling fashion.

Acosta and Cameron each finished with a double-double in the match for the Blazers as Acosta downed 15 kills and added 15 digs, while Cameron blasted 12 kills and dug 15 balls.

Martin passed out 44 assists and added 11 digs en route to a double-double output, while Kleckner registered six service aces in the losing effort.

Acosta and freshman middle hitter Wilfrido Fermin (Bronx, N.Y.) added a solo block and two assisted blocks each.

Belton finished with a match-high 25 kills and contributed 13 digs for Mount Ida while McCoy Arnoux Brockton, Mass.) and Hastings tallied 13 and 12 kills respectively.

Shane Wilson (Gloucester, Mass.) provided outstanding defensive effort, notching a match-high 18 digs in the winning effort.

Pinero paced the Mustangs’ offensive attack with 53 assists and downed four aces in the win.

Elms returns to NECVA New England Division action Tuesday, March 23 when it travels to Wentworth for a 7:00 p.m. contest.