Men’s Volleyball Splits with Newbury College, Lasell College

BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Elms College men's volleyball team earned a split during Saturday afternoon's tri-match at Newbury College. The Blazers posted a 3-2 (25-18, 25-15, 22-25, 22-25, 16-14) New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win over the Nighthawks and suffered a 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 19-25, 26-24) loss to Lasell College in non-league play.

With the split, Elms moves to 8-5 overall, 2-2 in conference play. Newbury moves to 2-8 on the season, 1-3 in league action, and Lasell improves to 5-3 overall.

Elms 3, Newbury 2

In the opening match, Elms claimed a 2-0 lead in the match and outlasted Newbury's comeback efforts with a 16-14 victory in the deciding fifth set.

The Blazers were led by freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) who downed a match-best 23 kills. Senior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) and junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) followed with 15 and 14 kills respectively and junior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) delivered 11 in the winning effort. As a unit, Elms hit .376 in the contest.

Junior setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 40 assists, junior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) added 16 assists and three aces, and Vautrin led all Blazers' diggers with 13. Cameron and Welsh followed with 11 and 10 digs respectively.

Lasell 3, Elms 1

Against the Lasers, Elms' sophomore middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) notched a team-high 12 kills and Rainey followed 11 kills of his own. Cameron led all diggers in the match with nine, while Lebron paced the team with 31 assists.

Latimer added seven kills in the losing effort as the Blazers hit .220 for the contest.

Elms is back in action on Tuesday, February 26 when it travels to Wentworth Institute of Technology for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference tilt with the Leopards.