Men’s Volleyball Falls to Endicott College, No. 14 Rivier College

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Elms College men's volleyball team suffered a 3-2 (17-25, 25-13, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12) loss to Endicott College and a 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-17) in day one action of the 2013 Endicott March Mania men's volleyball tournament hosted by the Gulls.

With the two losses, Elms moves to 9-10 on the season, 3-4 in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action.

Endicott 3, Elms 2

In the Blazers' opening match against NECC foe Endicott, freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) paced Elms with a match-high 18 kills, while junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) and sophomore middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) followed with 10 kills each. Junior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) added nine kills.

Junior setter Daniel Lebron (San Juan, Puerto Rico) dished out 44 assists and a match-high 16 digs, followed by 11 digs from Rainey and 10 from Vautrin.

After taking the first set, 25-17, Elms lost the next two sets before winning a thrilling fourth frame when Lebron, Vautrin and Rainey delivered three consecutive kills to flip a 23-22 deficit and to a 25-23 victory and force a deciding fifth set.

Leading 13-12 in the fifth stanza, Endicott's Josh Anderson (La Canada, Calif.) connected for back-to-back kills to complete a hard-fought five set win for the Gulls.

Anderson finished with a team-high 10 kills, while Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) delivered 39 assists in the winning effort.

No. 14 Rivier 3, Elms 0

Against Rivier, Vautrin smashed a team-high eight kills and notched a tie for the match-high in digs (8), while junior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) paced Elms with 20 assists in the losing effort.

Chris Markuson Cupertino, Calif.) floored a match-best nine kills and Terence Matatall (Danville, N.H.) and Shane Spellman (Norwich, Conn.) totaled eight kills each for the Raiders, while Steve Visentin (Cheshire, Conn.) dished out 26 helpers. Nick Ochoa (Whittier, Calif.) collected eight digs in the win.

Elms returns to March Mania tournament action on Sunday, March 10 with an 11:00 a.m. match against Emmanuel College and a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Sage Colleges.