Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 6 MIT, 3-0

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Elms College senior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) tallied a match-high 10 kills but No. 6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) setters Paul Syta (Fairport, N.Y.) and Evan Wang (Saratoga, Calif.) dished out 15 and 10 assists each to help pace the Engineers to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-16) sweep of the Blazers in Thursday evening's non-conference men's volleyball match. 

With the loss, Elms moves to 4-9 overall, while MIT improves to 13-2 on the season. 

Rainey led all hitters with 10 kills, while junior middle hitter Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and senior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) followed with seven and five kills respectively. 

Senior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) dished out 22 assists, while he and Rainey contributed a team-high five digs each. Welsh, Rainey, sophomore outside hitter Cristian Arroyo (Chicopee, Mass.) and freshman outside hitter Dervin Dimanche (Queens, N.Y.) added two assisted blocks each in the losing effort. 

MIT was led by Syta and Wang who combined for 25 of the team's 27 assists in the winning effort. Alex Klein (San Diego, Calif.) and Kenny Siebert (St. Louis, Mo.) totaled seven kills apiece, while Narindra Peaks (Voorhees, N.J.) and Martin Krasuski (Aurora, Ill.) finished with four kills each. 

Brendan Chang (Laytonsville, Md.) led all diggers with 12, followed by Krasuski with four digs. Peaks, Siebert, Klein and Aaron Zalewski (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) added two assisted blocks to help seal the victory. 

After falling behind 2-0 in the match, Elms posted a 14-10 lead following a kill by Rainey before MIT answered with a 10-0 run to stake a 20-14 lead in the third set. A kill by Latimer halted the run and pulled the Blazers back to within five, but the Engineers continued to apply the pressure scoring five of the next six points to stake a 25-16 victory in the frame and seal the match victory. 

Elms returns to conference action on Saturday, March 1 when it travels to Endicott College for a 1:00 p.m. match with the Gulls in Beverly, Mass.