Men’s Volleyball Outlasts Daniel Webster College, 3-2; Advances to NECC Championship Title Match

BEVERLY, Mass. – Elms College freshman outside hitter Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) floored a team-high 13 kills and senior outside hitter Stephen Cameron (Newington, Conn.) notched a match-best 18 digs to help lift the third-seeded Blazers to a 3-2 (25-12, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-12) victory over No. 2 Daniel Webster College in Friday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament semifinal men's volleyball match at MacDonald Gymnasium at Endicott College.

With the win, Elms (15-13), the defending NECC champions, will face top-seeded Endicott (21-9) on Saturday, April 13 at 2:00 p.m. in  the 2013 NECC tournament title match.

Elms stormed to a 2-0 advantage in the contest, winning the first set by a 25-12 margin and the second by a score of 25-20.

Daniel Webster responded in the third set when the Eagles scored three consecutive points to break a 22-22 deadlock. Darrien Mason (Farmington, Conn.) and Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) assisted on a block, Joel Hendrix (Kane'ohe, Hawai'i) served up an ace and Mason and Walz teamed for another block to set the score at 25-22 and force a fourth stanza.

In the fourth frame, Daniel Webster posted a 24-20 lead on a Walz kill before Elms' junior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) blasted a kill and the Eagles suffered an attacking error to bring the Blazers to within one at 24-22. However, Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, Alaska) responded with a kill of his own to give Daniel Webster another 25-22 set win and setup a deciding fifth set.

The Eagles broke out to an early 5-1 advantage before Elms chipped away at the lead and with the score set at 11-8 in favor of Daniel Webster, used a 4-0 run triggered by kills from Vautrin, junior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) and an assisted block from Welsh and freshman outside hitter Aleksandr Kuzmenko (Chicopee, Mass.) to give Elms a 13-11 lead.

The Eagles responded when Hendrix terminated a Howdeshell set to pull Daniel Webster to within one at 13-12, but a service error and a tandem block from Kuzmenko and sophomore middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) allowed Elms to claim a 15-12 victory in the stanza and advance to its second straight NECC championship title match.

Rainey finished with 11 kills behind Vautrin's 13, while Castro, Cameron and Kuzmenko downed nine kills each to give the Blazers a balanced offensive attack. Welsh directed the charge with 47 assists, five digs and two assisted blocks.

Castro notched 12 digs, Vautrin collected nine digs and Rainey and Kuzmenko chipped in seven digs each in the winning effort. Kuzmenko also registered five assisted stuffs, while Cameron knocked down three aces.

Hendrix and Walz provided the offensive punch for Daniel Webster, smashing a match-best 16 kills each, while Jose Vargas (Lawrence, Mass.) added 11 kills.

Hendrix also contributed stellar defense with a team-best 17 digs, while setter Ariel Frias (Lawrence, Mass.) managed 16 assists and eight digs. Kyle Clement (Weymouth, Mass.) had a hand in directing the Eagles' attack and dished out 22 helpers in the hard-fought loss.