Men’s Volleyball Charges Past University of New Haven, 3-1

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College freshman setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 49 assists and led a balanced Blazers' attack that saw three players down 16 kills each to help lift Elms to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 26-28, 25-17) win over the University of New Haven in Tuesday evening's non-conference men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 11-16 overall, while New Haven slips to 5-11 on the season.

With Elms leading 2-0 in the match, the sides played to a 25-25 tie in the third set before Blazers' sophomore outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) pounded a kill to put Elms ahead, 26-25. New Haven's Joshua Mainetti (Portland, Conn.) responded with a kill to even the frame at 26-26 and Carlito Atkins (Brooklyn, N.Y.) struck for a kill to give the Chargers a 27-26 edge. An Elms attacking error allowed New Haven to capture the third set and cut its deficit in the contest to 2-1.

The Blazers stormed out to a 10-2 lead in the fourth frame before New Haven rallied with a 6-1 run to pull to within three at 11-8. Elms extended its lead back to six (16-10) before three straight points by the Chargers shrank the margin back to three at 16-13. From there, the Blazers used seven consecutive points, highlighted by three kills from freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) and two from senior outside hitter Joshua Chagnon (Loudon, N.H.) to stake a 23-13 lead. New Haven pulled to within seven on an Elms attacking error to make the score 24-17, but that's as close as it would get as Cameron capped the set with his 16^th kill of the night.

Cameron, Rainey and junior outside hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) notched 16 kills apiece, while Chagnon finished with five, and freshman middle hitter Khristopher Perron (Harpswell, Maine) added four.

Lebron paced Elms to a solid .279 hitting percentage in addition to serving up two aces and recording six digs, while junior libero Michael Martin (Enfield, Conn.) dug a match-best 19 balls in the winning effort.

Acosta added 10 digs, while Rainey and Chagnon each amassed a solo block and two assisted blocks.

Gregg Brisbin (Laurel Springs, N.J.) was sensational in defeat for New Haven, clouting a match-high 29 kills on 59 swings with just four misfires for a .424 hitting percentage.

Mainetti hit .429 on the strength of 11 kills and added a team-high 11 digs, while Ryan Earl (Greenville, N.Y.) equaled Lebron's mark of 49 assists in the match.

Elms is next in action at the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament when it takes on No. 3 Daniel Webster College on Friday, March 25 at 8:00 p.m. The Blazers earned the second seed in the tournament with a 6-2 league mark.