Men’s Volleyball Outlasts Newbury College, 3-2

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College sophomore middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) smashed a team-high 16 kills and the Blazers outlasted a furious rally by Newbury College to hold on for a 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 23-25, 15-13) victory in Wednesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 13-12 overall, 6-4 in NECC action, while Newbury moves to 7-11 overall, 4-5 in NECC play.

In a match that featured a total of 40 ties and 16 lead changes, Elms won the first two sets before Newbury answered with wins in the next two sets setting the stage for a decisive fifth frame.

In the fifth stanza, the sides battled to a 13-13 score before Elms' senior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) and junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) connected for back-to-back kills to seal the hard-fought win for the Blazers.

Cameron finished with 11 kills and 11 digs in the win and freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) added 11 kills of his own to go along with a tie for the match-high in digs (14). Freshman outside hitter Aleksandr Kuzmenko (Chicopee, Mass.) totaled nine kills and 10 digs, and junior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) dished out 51 helpers and dug 10 balls to help secure the victory.

Castro added two solo blocks and assisted on three others and Kuzmenko notched three assisted blocks in the winning effort.

Jake Powell (Salinas, Calif.) was terrific in defeat for the Nighthawks smashing a match-best 28 kills and recording 13 digs. Chi Yin Li (Framingham, Mass.) finished just behind him with 20 kills and eight digs, while Tyler Sayne (Tucson, Ariz.) delivered nine kills.

Cody Braden (Fair Grove, Mo.) passed out 52 assists and tied for the match-high in digs with 14, while libero Alex Amylon (Scituate, R.I.) added 11 digs in the losing effort.

Elms took a 2-0 lead in the match when junior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) and Cameron struck for back-to-back kills to break a 23-23 deadlock allowing Elms to win the set 25-23.

Newbury won the third frame decisively as the Nighthawks, with the score set at 21-16 won four of the final five points of the set highlighted by three kills from Powell to make it 2-1 in the contest.

After posting a 24-21 lead in the fourth frame, a service error and a kill by Rainey allowed Elms to pull to within one at 24-23, but the Blazers the suffered an attacking error allowing Newbury to clinch the set and force a fifth set.

Elms returns to NECC action on Wednesday, April 3 when it hosts Southern Vermont College at 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.