Newbury College Outlasts Men’s Volleyball, 3-2

Box Score

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Elms College junior middle hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) smashed a match-high 18 kills but Newbury College earned a 3-2 (25-16, 22-25, 20-25, 25-13, 15-12) victory in Thursday evening's North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division and New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Hellenic College.

With the loss, Elms moves to 10-15 overall, 6-2 in NECC action and 8-7 in NECVA action. Newbury, meanwhile moves to 19-9 on the season, 6-0 in NECC play and 11-2 in NECVA action.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, Newbury stormed out to a 17-7 lead in the fourth frame and used a 7-4 run to extend that lead to 24-11. Elms' freshman setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and junior opposite hitter Michael Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.) notched an assisted block and Kleckner added a kill to set the score at 24-13, but a kill by the Nighthawks' Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, Calif.) gave Newbury a 25-13 win and evened the contest at 2-2.

In the deciding fifth set, Newbury staked a 13-8 lead before the Blazers used three straight miscues by the Nighthawks to pull to within two at 13-11. A kill by James Beck (Havre De Grace, Md.) gave Newbury a 14-11 lead before freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) downed a kill to keep the deficit at two (14-12). From there, Beck drilled his team-leading 17^th kill of the night to lift the Nighthawks to a 15-12 victory and complete the comeback win.

Rainey finished with 12 kills and added two solo blocks and five assisted blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) downed nine kills and nine digs in the loss.

Lebron dished out 35 assists and added nine digs, while junior libero Michael Martin (Enfield, Conn.) amassed seven digs.

After falling behind 1-0 in the match, Elms lead for much of the second set and with the score set at 23-22 in favor of the Blazers, Cameron downed a kill and followed that with a service ace to even the match at 1-1.

In the third frame, Elms opened up an early 6-0 lead which it turned into a 24-18 advantage before Newbury used a kill by Dan Davison (Howell, N.J.) and Beck to pull to within four at 24-20. From there, Acosta blasted a kill to seal the stanza and give the Blazers a 2-1 lead in the match.

Max Daley (Cranston, R.I.) followed Beck with 16 kills, while Michael Biuso (South Setauket, N.Y.) and Beck tallied 14 and 13 digs respectively.

Talamantes paced the Nighthawks' offense, which hit at a .313 clip, with 54 assists, while Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) added nine kills in the winning effort.

Elms returns to NECVA New England action on Saturday, March 19 when it hosts Wentworth Institute of Technology at 2:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.