Men’s Volleyball Roars Past Lesley University, 3-0

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior opposite hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) smashed a match-best 14 kills and freshman setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) doled out 38 assists to help pace the Blazers to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-18) sweep of Lesley University in Wednesday evening's North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England and New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms moves to 1-1 on the season, 1-1 in the NECVA, 1-0 in NECC play, while Lesley slides to 0-2 overall, 0-2 in the NECVA and 0-1 in NECC action.

After playing to six tie scores, a lead change and an 8-8 score in the opening set, Elms scored 10 of the next 12 points to take an 18-10 lead. A Blazers' service error followed by a kill from Lesley's William Lau (Charlestown, Mass.) pulled the Lynx to within six at 18-12 but a pair of kills by Acosta, a kill by junior outside Michael Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.), one from sophomore middle hitter Wilfrido Fermin (Bronx, N.Y.) and a Lesley service error highlighted a 5-1 run that extended Elms' lead to 23-13. Then Lynx's Zachary Almeida-Beers (Rehoboth, Mass.) downed a kill and Jason Moore (Brattleboro, Vt.) added another to make the score 23-15 before Fermin drilled a Welsh set off the floor to give Elms set point. Almeida-Beers tallied his second kill of the set but a Lesley service error preserved the 25-16 win for the Blazers.

The second stanza saw Elms stake a 20-11 lead before a kill by Almeida-Beers pulled the Lynx to within eight at 20-12. A pair of kills by Acosta, a service ace from Welsh and a bad set by Lesley widened the gap to 24-12 before Lau downed a kill to halt the four-point run at 24-13. From there, senior outside hitter Josh Chagnon (Loudon, N.H.) registered his first collegiate kill to give the Blazers a 25-13 second set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Elms posted an eight-point 20-12 cushion in the third frame before Lesley responded with four straight points on the strength of two kills by Lau and a pair of errors by the Blazers to pull the Lynx to within four at 20-16. Fermin blasted a kill and junior outside hitter Michael Martin (Enfield, Conn.) connected for two kills to give Elms a 23-17 edge before a Blazers' attacking error narrowed the gap to five at 23-18. A resonating kill by freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) and a service ace by Kleckner sealed the match for Elms.

As a team, Elms hit .365 for the match. Acosta downed his 14 kills on 31 swings with five errors (.290), while Kleckner totaled eight kills on 13 attempts with just one error for a .538 hitting percentage. Rainey finished with a .778 clip (seven kills on nine swings with zero errors), while Fermin also tallied seven kills on 11 attempts with three errors (.364).

Welsh paced the offensive surge with a collegiate-career high 38 assists and added a pair of aces, while freshman libero Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) amassed a match-high 13 digs.

Martin and Kleckner added seven digs each, while Kleckner downed four aces in the win.

Elms also out-blocked Lesley 6.0-1.0 as Ferming and Kleckner headlined the effort with two solo stuffs apiece.

Almeida-Beers and Lau led the Lynx offensively with seven kills each, while Stephen Siragusa (Valley Stream, N.Y.) dished out 19 assists.

Tyler Reeves (Conventry, Conn.) and Beau Morrimando (Bayshore, N.Y.) added six and five digs respectively in the losing effort.

Elms returns to on Saturday, Jan. 22 when it travels to the SUNY New Paltz tournament. The Blazers will square off against Emmanuel College at 3:00 p.m. in their tournament opener.