Men’s Volleyball Falls to Endicott College, 3-1

BEVERLY, Mass. - Elms College senior outside hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) drilled a match-high 14 kills, but Endicott College used eight kills apiece from Jeremy Siden (Natick, Mass.) and Matt Devendorf (Glastonbury, Conn.) and took advantage of 14 Blazers' service errors to help seal a 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 18-25, 25-15) victory in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match.

With the loss, Elms moves to 9-5 overall, 4-1 in league play, while Endicott improves to 7-5 on the season, 5-0 in NECC action.

Trailing 2-0 in the contest, Elms built a 21-15 lead before Brennan Lowe (Malibu, Calif.) and Travis Netheron (Waukegan, Ill.) delivered back-to-back kills for the Gulls to pull Endicott to within four at 21-17. Acosta and Devendorf then exchanged kills before the Blazers used a kill by senior outside hitter Carlos DeLeon (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and a block assist from DeLeon and sophomore middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) and an Endicott error to seal the 25-18 third set and force a fourth stanza.

In the fourth frame, the Gulls stormed out to a 19-12 lead before a service error and a kill by Elms' junior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) set the score at 19-14. Endicott then used a 6-1 run to close out the set capped by a Lowe service ace to seal the match.

Elms' freshman middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) smashed 11 kills, while Cameron collected nine kills and a team-high 13 digs. Rainey added six kills, 10 digs and added two assisted blocks, while sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 43 assists.

Jeremy Schlosser (Emmaus, Pa.) paced Endicott with 22 assists, while Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) added 15 helpers in the win for the Gulls.

Andrew Slocum (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) and Siden finished with 13 and 10 digs respectively.

Endicott registered 28 assisted blocks in the contest as Joshua Bruno (Andover, Mass.) and Josh Anderson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) contributed five each, while Siden, Lowe, Nertheron and Thomas Stoeckinger (Malibu, Calif.) notched four assisted blocks each.

Elms returns to NECC action on Wednesday, Feb. 29 with a 7:00 p.m. match at Newbury College.