Men’s Volleyball Downs Southern Vermont College, 3-0

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior middle hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) smashed a match-high 15 kills to help pace the Blazers to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-20) sweep of Southern Vermont College in Thursday evening's North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division and New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 4-7 on the season, 2-1 in NECC play and 3-3 in NECVA action. Southern Vermont slides to 2-6 overall, 1-1 in NECC play and 2-2 in NECVA action.

Leading 1-0 in the contest, Elms opened up a 19-10 lead in the second set before Southern Vermont used a bad set, followed by a solo block from Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) and an assisted block by Barahona and Sean Moore II (Upper Marlboro, Md.) to pull to within six at 19-13.

Trailing 24-16 following a kill by Elms' freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.), Barahona and Nick Haggerty (Wynantskill, N.Y.) each floored a kill to pull the Mountaineers back to within six at 24-18, but Rainey delivered a kill to earn a 25-18 victory in the second frame and take a 2-0 lead in the contest.

In the third stanza, Elms posted a 23-16 advantage before Southern Vermont rallied with a 4-1 run highlighted by kills from Barahona and Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.) to narrow the Mountaineers' deficit to 24-20. From there, an assisted block by Acosta and junior outside hitter Michael Martin (Enfield, Conn.) sealed the sweep for the Blazers.

Freshman setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) paced Elms' offense with 34 assists, while Rainey finished with nine kills and a match-best 20 digs in the winning effort.

Junior outside hitter Michael Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.) drilled seven kills on 13 swings (.308 hitting percentage) to give Elms three hitters with a .300 or better hitting percentage. Acosta registered his 15 kills on 35 attempts with just three errors (.343), while Rainey's nine kills came on 18 attempts with three misfires (.333).

Martin added seven digs, four service aces, a solo block and a pair of assisted blocks, while Acosta assisted on three blocks.

Barahona collected a team-best 12 kills for Southern Vermont, while Ayala and Neel Patel (Bennington, Vt.) added four each in the losing effort.

Ayala dished out 17 assists and totaled a team-high 10 digs, while Barahona added nine digs for the Mountaineers.

Elms returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 12 when it hosts NECVA and NECC rival Daniel Webster College and Regis College in tri-match action. The Blazers will host the Eagles at 12:00 p.m. and take on the Pride at 4:00 p.m. while Daniel Webster and Regis will square off at 2:00 p.m. All matches will be played at Picknelly Arena.