Men’s Volleyball Downs Daniel Webster College, 3-1

NASHUA, N.H.  – Elms College senior outside hitter Yonaly Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) led all hitters with a match-high 15 kills and added three blocks to help the Blazers secure a 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 25-27, 25-22) victory over Daniel Webster College in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball contest at Mario Vagge Gymnasium.

With the win, Elms improves to 6-1 overall, 3-0 in NECC play, while Daniel Webster slides to 0-3 on the season, 0-3 in conference play.

Sophomore middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) notched 13 kills, junior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) added 11 kills and sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) distributed 43 assists to help lift Elms to its sixth consecutive win to start the 2012 campaign. Freshman middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) added a team-high 13 digs.

Daniel Webster was led by Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) who downed 10 kills and added 14 digs, while Chris Shannon (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) added eight kills and 11 digs. Joel Hendrix (Keneohe, Hawaii) added eight kills and two solo blocks, while Eric Smith (Clay, N.Y.) dished out 18 assists and Kyle Clement (Weymouth, Mass.) had 14 assists.

With Elms ahead 2-0 in the contest, set three saw the teams combine for 11 ties and four lead changes before the Blazers eventually held a 24-21 edge. The Eagles avoided three match points and back-to-back hitting errors by both squads knotted the set at 25-25 before Walz smashed a kill and Daniel Webster used a Blazers' attack error to force a fourth set in the contest.

Nine more ties and five more lead changes and a 17-17 score awaited the teams in set four before Elms forged ahead by two behind two Eagles errors. Daniel Webster later closed the gap to 22-21 on a Walz kill, but a Rainey kill and a senior outside hitter Carlos DeLeon (Carolina, Puerto Rico) ace gave the Blazers a 24-21 lead and Acosta closed out the match with his 15^th kill of the night.

Elms returns to action at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 11 and will square off against York College and Rivier College beginning at 4:00 p.m. in non-conference action.