MIT Swings Past Men’s Volleyball, 3-0

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) downed a team-high eight kills but Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Ken Siebert (St. Louis, Mo.) smashed a match-high nine kills and setter Tim Lee (Natick, Mass.) handed out 30 assists to help lead the Engineers to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-18) sweep of the Blazers in Saturday afternoon's North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England division men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms falls to 0-1 overall, 0-1 in NECVA New England play, while MIT improves to 3-0 on the season, 3-0 in NECVA New England play.

MIT opened up an early 10-6 lead in the first set before going on a 10-1 run highlighted by three Siebert kills, a kill each from Benson George (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Evan Wang (Saratoga, Calif.), and two George service aces to stake a 20-7 lead.

Cameron, junior opposite hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.), and an assisted block by Acosta and sophomore middle hitter Wilfrido Fermin (Bronx, N.Y.) cut the Blazers' deficit to 10 points. Elms pulled to within 10 twice more on an Engineers' attack error and a kill by freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) but a kill by Malcolm Bean (Rochester, N.Y.) a service ace by Patrick Vatterott (St. Louis, Mo.) and a Blazers' attacking error allowed MIT to claim the opening set 25-12.

The second frame played out in similar fashion as MIT established an early 13-8 lead and used an 11-4 run to post a 12-point 24-12 lead. Elms' junior outside hitter Michael Martin (Enfield, Conn.) drilled a kill to halt the run but an error on the ensuing serve attempt gave the Engineers a 25-13 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third stanza, MIT built a 21-13 lead before Elms rallied to score five of the next eight points on the strength of two kills by Rainey, a kill by freshman setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) and an assisted block from Fermin and Cameron to pull the Blazers to within six at 24-18. From there, a service error by Elms preserved the sweep for the Engineers.

George and Vatterott downed eight kills each and each hit above a .600 clip for the match as MIT hit .333 as a team through three sets.

Caine Jette (Haiku, Hawaii) notched a match high 10 digs and libero Jeremy Velazquez (Chelmsford, Mass.) recorded nine digs to lead MIT's defensive effort.

Acosta finished second for Elms in kills with five, and added six digs, while Martin downed three kills and notched seven digs in the losing effort.

Freshman libero Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) collected a team-high 10 digs while Fermin finished with three kills and five assisted blocks.

Elms returns to NECVA New England and begins New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play on Tuesday, Jan. 18 when it hosts Lesley University. First-serve is set for 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.