Men’s Volleyball Downs Johnson & Wales University, 3-1

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) smashed a match-best 13 kills and freshman setter  Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out a match-high 40 assists to help pace the Blazers to a 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-17) win over Johnson & Wales University in Wednesday evening's non-conference men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms concludes its season 13-17 overall, while Johnson & Wales moves to 8-15 on the season.

With the Wildcats trailing 2-0 in the contest, the sides played to three ties before Johnson & Wales posted a 20-18 lead. A kill by Cameron pulled Elms to within one at 20-19 before the Wildcats scored five straight points on the strength of a kill apiece by Shawn Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) and Alex Viera (Bay Shore, N.Y.), an assisted block by Viera and Eric Minnich (Concord, Calif.) and a pair of Blazers miscues to give Johnson & Wales a 25-19 win in the set and force a fourth set.

In the fourth stanza, Elms established an early 13-10 lead before going on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 21-12 on the strength of a kill by Cameron and a service ace and kill by junior outside hitter Michael Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.). The Wildcats answered by scoring five of the next seven points to pull to within five at 23-17, but a service error and an assisted block by freshman middle hitter Khristopher Perron (Harpswell, Maine) and freshman outside hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) allowed Elms to claim the fourth set and win the match.

Junior middle hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) hit at a match-best .381 clip downing 11 kills on 21 swings with just three misfires, while freshman middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) totaled eight kills on 16 attempts with two errors to hit at a .375 percentage for the match.

Kleckner finished with seven kills, while senior outside hitter Joshua Chagnon (Loudon, N.H.) added two kills and two assisted blocks to help the Blazers to victory.

Rainey record a match-high seven digs and Cameron followed with six digs and three service aces for Elms.

Kennedy drilled 11 kills and hit at a .304 clip to lead Johnson & Wales, while Petar Yanakiev (Varna, Bulgaria) followed with eight kills and a team-high five digs in the losing effort.

Gerard Daniels (Miami, Fla.) dished out 26 assists, while Dan Struebing (Coventry, R.I.) collected seven kills to highlight the Wildcats' outing.