Men’s Volleyball Sweeps by Emerson College, D’Youville College in Day Two Action of SUNYIT Tournament

UTICA, N.Y. – The Elms College men's volleyball team improved its record to a perfect 4-0 to start the 2013 season after dispatching Emerson College, 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) and D'Youville College, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon in day two action of the SUNYIT Tournament in Utica, N.Y.

Elms 3, Emerson 0

Against Emerson, junior setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) directed a stellar Elms attack that featured a 15-kill effort from freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) and a nine-kill performance from junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Cambridge, Mass.) and junior outside hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.).

Vautrin hit at a .565 clip with just two errors on 23 swings, while Rainey had just one mishit in 16 attempts and hit at a .500 percentage for the match.

Junior Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) added a team-high eight digs, followed by six digs from Lebron and a five-dig, six-kill outing from senior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.).

Emerson's Brendan McGonigle (Los Angeles, Calif.) floored a team-best 10 kills and dished out 15 assists, Alex Frapech (Woodland Hills, Calif.) followed with nine kills and eight digs, and Jared Gross (Wexford, Pa.) led all diggers with 15 in the contest.

Elms 3, D'Youville 0

Against D'Youville, Latimer blasted a match-high 13 kills and hit at a solid .462 pace with just one hitting error in 26 tries to lead the Blazers' attack which registered a collective .351 mark for the match.

Lebron and sophomore Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) helped direct the offensive effort with 15 assists each and Welsh added 10 helpers of his own.

Rainey and Cameron tallied six kills each and Vautrin and freshman outside hitter Aleksander Kuzmenko (Chicopee, Mass.) chipped in five kills apiece in the winning effort.

Kuzmenko added a team-high nine digs, followed by eight digs from both Lebron and Castro.

Chris Kruger (Hamburg, N.Y.) led the way for D'Youville with seven kills, while Alex Johnson (Clarence, N.Y.) tallied a match-high 19 digs. Jay Senozetnik (Eden, N.Y.) added 24 assists and 11 digs and Brett Cawthorn (West Seneca, N.Y.) floored five kills and notched 10 digs in the losing effort.

Elms returns to non-league action when it hosts No. 9 MIT at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 31 at Picknelly Arena.