Southern Vermont College Climbs Past Men’s Volleyball, 3-2

BENNINGTON, Vt. – Elms College junior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) downed a match-high 18 kills to lead five Blazers with double-digit kills but Southern Vermont College rallied from a 2-0 deficit to post a 3-2 (28-30, 22-25, 25-22, 25-11, 19-17) victory in Thursday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match in Bennington, Vt.

With the loss, Elms sees its five-match winning streak snapped and falls to 17-7 overall, 8-3 in NECC play. Southern Vermont improves to 11-15 on the season, 8-4 in conference action.

With the match even at 2-2, Elms roared out to a 9-5 lead in the fifth set before Southern Vermont rallied to tied the frame at 12-12. The sides then battled to four more deadlocks and a 17-17 score before the Mountaineers used back-to-back kills by Connor Murray (Litchfield, Conn.) and Corey Mills (Fresno, Calif.) to complete Southern Vermont's comeback win.

The Mountaineers were led by Gabriel Franco (Pico Rivera, Calif.) and Joseph Dighton (Riverside, Calif.) who notched 14 and 13 kills respectively, while Keven Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) and Murray chipped in eight kills and seven kills.

Herson Canta (Los Angeles, Calif.) paced the Southern Vermont offense with 39 assists, while Nick Haggerty (Wynantskill, N.Y.) tallied a match-high 19 digs. Tino Escovedo (Fresno, Calif.) added 10 digs in the winning effort and Canta added eight to help seal the victory.

Elms, which took a 2-0 lead in the contest before the Mountaineers won three straight sets, was led by Cameron's 18-kill, nine-dig effort. Sophomore middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) followed with 15 kills and 10 digs, while freshman middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and senior outside hitter Carlos DeLeon (Carolina, Puerto Rico) floored 11 kills each.

Senior outside hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) added 10 kills and nine digs in the losing effort. Sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 44 helpers and collected 12 digs, while Castro added 12 digs and DeLeon contributed 11 digs.

Elms concludes regular season action on Saturday, April 7 when it hosts Daniel Webster College at 2:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.