Men’s Volleyball Splits Tri-Match With Wentworth, Southern Vermont
Men’s Volleyball Splits Tri-Match With Wentworth, Southern Vermont
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College freshman
outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.)
blasted a total of 17 kills and senior setter Mike Ryan
(Ludlow, Mass.) handed out a total of 43 assists, to help
pace the Blazers to a split in Saturday afternoon’s North
East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division
tri-match at Picknelly Arena.
Elms (1-1, 1-1 NECVA) was swept by Wentworth (2-0, 1-0 NECVA) in
the opening contest 3-0 (21-30, 32-34, 18-30), before sweeping
Southern Vermont College (0-2, 0-1 NECVA) 3-0 (31-29, 30-14, 30-18)
in the final contest of the tri-match.
With Wentworth leading 1-0 in the opening match, the sides played
a tightly contested second set, battling to 18 ties and eight lead
changes. Leading 29-28, Elms earned a set-point opportunity, but a
service error knotted the score at 29-29. Wentworth’s
Dan Mulvey (Halifax, Mass.) downed a kill to give
the Leopards a 30-29 lead, before a service error evened the
contest at 30-30. With the score locked at 32-32 after a sequence
of miscues by both sides, Tom Ceurvels (Weymouth,
Mass.) and Lowell Jesmer (Rochester,
N.Y.) registered a kill each to give the Leopards a
hard-fought 34-32 victory in the frame and post a 2-0 lead in the
match.
Wentworth raced out to a quick 7-0 lead in the third stanza and
scored 15 of the next 23 points to extend the lead to 22-8. The
Leopards kept their cushion and sealed the match with a 30-18
victory.
Cameron collected a team-high seven kills in the opening match and
recorded six digs. Ryan directed the offense with 19 assists.
Sophomore outside hitter Mike Martin (Enfield,
Conn.) and sophomore opposite hitter Mike Kleckner
(Bethlehem, Pa.) contributed 11 digs each in the losing
effort.
Ceurvels and Gregory each finished with a match-high 19 kills,
Marc Larue (Lincoln, R.I.) dug a match-best 20
balls in the winning effort. Jesmer finished with eight kills and
eight digs, while Tyler Moriarty (Wilbraham,
Mass.) passed out 28 assists to guide the Wentworth
attack.
Against Southern Vermont, the opening frame saw 12 ties and seven
lead changes before Martin delivered a kill to break a 29-29
stalemate, giving the Blazers a 30-29 edge. Freshman middle hitter
Wilfrido Fermin (Bronx, N.Y.) then smashed a kill
to give Elms a 31-29 victory in the set and post a 1-0 lead in the
match.
In the second set, the Blazers established a 15-10 cushion and
then scored four straight points to extend that lead to 19-10.
Leading 21-13, a string of six straight points were highlighted by
a kill each from Kleckner and sophomore middle hitter Aaron
Coifman (Caracas, Venezuela), and two from Cameron to up
the advantage to 27-13. The Mountaineers received a kill from
Jullian Amaral (New Bedford, Mass.) but a Cameron
kill and two Southern Vermont attacking errors sealed the second
set victory for Elms and a 2-0 lead in the contest.
Following a 6-6 tie in the third stanza, the Blazers used a 14-6
run to take a 20-10 lead. The Mountaineers pulled to within 10
again at 27-17, but kills by Cameron, Ryan and Kleckner sealed the
set and Elms’ first victory of the season.
Cameron and Kleckner finished with 10 kills each in the match,
while sophomore libero Juan Carlos Salmeron (Springfield,
Mass.) picked up 15 digs in the winning effort. Ryan
dished out 24 assists, while Martin delivered nine assists to
direct the Elms offense.
Elms returns to NECVA New England Division action when they host
Endicott College on Monday, Jan. 18. First-serve is set for 7:00
p.m. at Picknelly Arena.
