Bard College Outlasts Men’s Volleyball, 3-1

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) floored a match-high 23 kills and dug 13 balls but Bard College used a 16-kill effort from Billy Williams (Livingston, N.J.) and the Raptors to help the Raptors pull away to a 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 26-28, 27-25) victory in Wednesday evening's non-conference men's volleyball match at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 2-3 overall, while Bard improves to 2-4 on the season.

After Bard posted an early 2-0 lead in the match, Elms stormed back in the third set and with the score tied at 26-26, Rainey downed a kill and the Raptors suffered an attacking error to give the Blazers a 28-26 win and set the score in the match at 2-1.

In the fourth stanza, the sides continued to play back-and-forth volleyball and following a kill by Elms' freshman middle hitter Austin DeCosmo (Tolland, Mass.), the Blazers took a 24-22 lead in the frame. A pair of miscues by Elms allowed Bard to even the set at 24-24 and Jesse Small (Brookline, Mass.) put the Raptors ahead, 25-24. Rainey answered with a kill to set the score at 25-25, but Alex Adams (Fire Island, N.Y.) registered a kill and the Blazers hit an attack into the net to give Bard a 27-25 win in the frame and secure the 3-1 match victory.

Rainey hit .400 for the contest, notching 23 kills on 45 swings with five errors. Latimer and junior middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) followed with 13 kills each as the Blazers hit .278 collectively for the match.

Welsh dished out 47 assists and added six digs, while Castro led all players with 14 digs. Rainey added 13 digs and Latimer chipped in eight digs. DeCosmo was stellar at the net assisting on six blocks.  

The Raptors hit just .180 for the match led by 16 kills from Williams and 11 from Small. Daniel Gagne (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Adams followed with nine and eight kills respectively, while Henry Kasiske (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out 39 assists and recorded 11 digs.

Adams secured a team-high 12 digs, Shane McDonald (Los Angeles, Calif.) notched eight digs and five assists, and Gagne contributed seven digs in the winning effort.

Elms returns to non-league action on Saturday, February 1 at Vassar College in tri-match action. The Blazers will square off against the Brewers at 1:00 p.m. and will take on Ramapo College 3:00 p.m.