Men’s Volleyball Earns Tri-Match Sweep of Newbury College, Mount Ida College

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) downed 13 kills against Newbury College and freshman middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) added eight kills against Mount Ida College to help pace the Blazers to a pair of sweeps in Saturday afternoon's men's volleyball tri-match at Picknelly Arena.

With the two wins, Elms improves to 5-1 on the season, 2-1 in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action. Newbury falls 2-1 overall, 1-1 in league play, while Mount Ida moves to 0-2 on the season.

Elms 3, Newbury 0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-23)

In the opening match, Elms hit .310 as a team behind a 13-kill effort from Cameron and an 11-kill effort from senior middle hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.). Castro added six kills in the win to round out three Blazers with a .300 hitting clip or better, while freshman outside hitter Timothy Frappier (Wilbraham, Mass.) downed four kills on five attempts with no errors (.800).

Sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out a team-best 37 assists and collected five digs, Acosta added five service aces and sophomore middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) notched a match-high 11 digs and downed five kills to help seal the win.

Newbury was led by Danny Kim (Plainview, N.Y.) who smashed seven kills, while Chi Yin Li (Framingham, Mass.) and Chris Chin (Brockton, Mass.) added five and four kills respectively.

Cody Braden (Fairgrove, Mo.) directed the attack with 14 assists, while Angel Ayala (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) added four assisted blocks.

Elms 3, Mount Ida 0 (25-6, 25-11, 25-23)

Castro led a well-balanced Blazers' attack against Mount Ida notching eight kills on nine swings with just one misfire (.778) and added a tie for the team-high in digs with eight. Cameron and Rainey followed with six and five kills respectively, while sophomore setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) distributed 19 assists.

Elms also used 15 service aces to post its win over the Mustangs, highlighted by Rainey's four aces, while Lebron, Cameron and Welsh added three each.

Spencer Hastings (Orlando, Fla.) notched 10 of Mount Ida's 16 kills, while Franklin McCaffrey (East Greenwich, R.I.) added 11 assists in the losing effort.

Newbury 3, Mount Ida 0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-19)

Newbury found offensive stride against Mount Ida as Chin tallied 11 kills on 18 attempts with one miscue (.556) and Kim added seven kills to help pace the Nighthawks to a sweep of the Mustangs.

Braden dished out a match-high 24 assists, while Jarryl McKey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) registered four assisted blocks in the winning effort. Braden and Benjamin Weiner (Barrington, R.I.) combined for nine service aces to help seal the victory.

Hastings led Mount Ida in defeat, downing a match-best 13 kills, McCoy Arnoux (Brockton, Mass.) added six kills, while Nick Melillo (North Haven, Conn.) finished with five kills for the Mustangs.

Nick Schibi (Torrington, Conn.) totaled a team-high four digs in the loss.

Elms returns to NECC action on Thursday, Feb. 9 when it travels to Nashua, N.H. to take on Daniel Webster College at 7:00 p.m.