Men’s Volleyball Surges Past Daniel Webster College, 3-1

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) smashed a team-high 12 kills and sophomore middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) rose up for four solo blocks to help pace the Blazers to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 25-27, 25-14) victory over Daniel Webster College in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms concludes its regular season with an 18-7 overall record and stands at 9-3 in conference action. Daniel Webster finishes the regular season 14-6 overall, 6-6 in NECC play.

After notching victories in the opening two sets, Elms registered a 16-11 lead before Daniel Webster rallied for a 6-1 run highlighted by a trio of kills by Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) to pull the Eagles to within one at 18-17.

The Blazers extended their lead back to four (23-19) on a kill by Cameron, before Walz tallied a solo block, a kill and Joel Hendrix (Keneohe, Hawaii) served up an ace to knot the frame at 23-23. Walz and Elms' freshman middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) exchanged kills and a Blazers attacking error and a kill by Elms' senior outside hitter Carlos DeLeon (Carolina, Puerto Rico) set the score at 25-25 before Walz delivered a kill and Elms suffered an attacking error allowing Daniel Webster to claim the third set, 27-25.

In the fourth frame, Elms cruised to an early 6-0 lead and extended its advantage to as many as eight (22-14) before Cameron and senior outside hitter Yonalvy Acosta (Holyoke, Mass.) connected for back-to-back kills and sophomore setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) floored an ace to seal the match.

Hendrix and Walz were stellar in defeat for the Eagles, notching a match-high 17 and 14 kills respectively, while Hendrix and Chris Shannon (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) secured a team-best seven digs each in the losing effort.

Setter Eric Smith (Clay, N.Y.) dished out 30 assists and added five digs and three assisted blocks, while Hendrix added four assisted blocks.

Cameron and Acosta finished with 12 and 10 kills respectively to lead Elms, while Castro and DeLeon added eight kills each, followed by Rainey's seven.

Lebron dished out 35 helpers and dropped in seven aces in addition to recording a match-best 13 digs, while Castro added 12 digs in the winning effort. Castro and Acosta assisted on four and three blocks respectively.

Elms returns to action on Friday, April 13 at the NECC Championship tournament. Match time and opponent is yet to be determined.