Daniel Webster College Notches 3-2 Comeback Victory Over Men’s Volleyball

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) floored a team-high 17 kills and led four Blazers in double figures, but Daniel Webster College used a match-best 21-kill effort from Joel Hendrix (Kane'ohe, Hawaii) and the Eagles came from two sets down to seal a tightly-contest 3-2 (26-28, 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-12) victory in Wednesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 7-3 on the season, 1-2 in conference action, while Daniel Webster improves to 5-4 overall, 2-0 in league play.

After falling behind 2-0 in the match, Daniel Webster flipped the table and won the next three sets. In the third, after battling to four tie scores, the Eagles opened up a 21-16 lead before Elms' freshman outsider hitter Aleksandr Kuzmenko (Chicopee, Mass.) registered a kill to pull the Blazers to within four at 21-17. Kills by Hendrix and Jose Vargas (Lawrence, Mass.) allowed Daniel Webster to take a 23-17 lead until Blazers' junior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) connected with a kill of his own to set the score at 23-18. Hendrix then delivered a kill and Ariel Frias (Lawrence, Mass.) served up an ace to give the Eagles a 25-18 win in the frame.

In the fourth set, Daniel Webster held a 23-19 advantage before three straight attack errors narrowed Elms' deficit to one at 23-22. Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) responded with a kill to give the Eagles set point, but Kuzmenko momentarily halted the momentum when he blasted a kill to set the score at 24-23. However, Hendrix forced the deciding fifth set when he smashed a kill of his own to seal a 25-23 triumph in the frame.

In the fifth stanza, Daniel Webster soared to an early 7-2 lead before the Blazers answered with a run of four straight points highlighted by a kill each from Cameron, junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) and freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) to set the score at 7-5.

A kill by Hendrix upped the Eagles' lead to 8-5 but kills by Rainey and sophomore middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and an attack error by Daniel Webster evened the frame at 8-8.

The sided battled to a 10-10 score before the Eagles used a pair of Vargas kills and a service ace by Jeff Chen (Milford, Mass.) to highlight a 4-0 run and stake a 14-10 lead in the set. Castro and Vautrin answered with back-to-back kills before Walz drilled his 21^st strike of the match to seal a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory.

Vautrin finished with 14 kills, while Castro and Rainey added 10 kills each in the losing effort as Elms hit .275 as a team in the match. Junior setters Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) and Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) tallied 31 and 26 assists respectively, and Vautrin led all diggers with a match-best 15.

Rainey and Cameron totaled nine each in the loss, while Vautrin registered three aces.

Walz added 19 kills and six digs behind Hendrix's 21-kill outing. Hendrix added eight digs, six aces and six assisted blocks in the win, while Vargas also hit in double figures with 11 kills and assisted on four blocks.

Frias paced the action with 50 assists and notched six digs, Casey Monahan (Shelton, Conn.) dug nine balls, and Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, Alaska) chipped in eight digs.

Elms returns to non-league play on Friday, Feb. 22 when it travels to No. 1 Springfield College for a 4:00 p.m. contest at Blake Arena.