Men's Volleyball Set To Face Baruch College in First Round of NCAA Division III Championship

The Matchup: Elms College Blazers (20-7) vs. Baruch College Bearcats (23-16)
Date: Saturday, April 20, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Site: ARC Arena (New York, N.Y.)
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All-Time Series: Baruch College leads the all-time series with Elms College, 3-0 dating back to the first meeting in 2009.
Last Meeting: Baruch posted a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Elms on Jan. 23, 2011 at the SUNY New Paltz Tournament.

Setting the Scene: Elms enters Saturday evening's first round matchup with Baruch as part of the first-ever NCAA Division III Championship in men's volleyball. The Blazers and Bearcats will compete in a play-in game as part of the nine-team field. Elms takes the court with a 20-7 overall record, while Baruch, ranked 13^th in the nation, enters tournament action with a 23-16 record.

Scouting Baruch: Baruch takes the court having won six of its last eight matches to end the season and won the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Championship to punch its ticket to NCAA postseason play. The Bearcats are led by Steven Coniglio (Plainview, N.Y.) who averages 2.54 kills per set and finished with 351 on the season, while Danny Olson (Franklin, Ind.) has dished out a total of 992 helpers on the season highlighted by a 9.10 assists per frame average.

Scouting Elms: Elms, which enters tournament action having won eight of its last nine contests, has tied the program record for wins (20). The Blazers won the 2012 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament for the second time since 2009. Against top-seeded Endicott College in the tournament title match, Elms was led by NECC tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) junior Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) who smashed a match-high 17 kills, served up three aces, totaled eight digs and assisted on three blocks. Sophomore Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) added 12 kills and nine digs, while senior Carlos DeLeon (Carolina, Puerto Rico) added 10 kills and eight digs in the winning effort. The offense and defensive efforts were paced by sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) who dished out 47 assists and notched 22 digs.

A Look at What's Next: The winner of the Elms, Baruch match will advance to the overall championship rounds scheduled for April 27-29 at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. and will play the host Pride at 12:30 p.m. on the 27^th at Blake Arena.