Men’s Volleyball Falls to Daniel Webster College, 3-1

NASHUA, N.H. – Elms College senior middle hitter Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) notched a match-high 20 kills and a match-best 13 digs, but Daniel Webster College had three players secure double-digit kills to help the Eagles post a 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-16) victory over the Blazers in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match in Nashua, N.H.

With the loss Elms concludes its season 6-17 overall 4-8 in NECC action. Daniel Webster improves to 12-13 on the season, 9-3 in conference play.

Elms' senior opposite hitter Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) smashed 12 kills and senior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) dished out 38 assists in the losing effort. Sophomore middle hitter Cristian Arroyo (Chicopee, Mass.), freshman defensive specialist Ian Isgut (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and freshman middle hitter Austin DeCosmo (Southwick, Mass.) added three kills each, while Isgut and sophomore libero Roger Conklin (Chicopee, Mass.) finished with nine digs each.

Rainey added three aces, Latimer notched two solo blocks and Welsh served up a pair of aces for Elms, and DeCosmo assisted on three blocks. Rainey, the program's all-time leader in kills and first player in program history to reach the 1,000-kill milestone, concludes his career with 1,082 kills.

Daniel Webster was led by Jose Vargas (Lawrence, Mass.) who notched a team-high 17 kills and recorded a team-best 12 digs, while Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Darrien Mason (Farmington, Conn.) followed with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, Alaska) added nine kills and Ariel Frias (Lawrence, Mass.) handed out a match best 41 assists and chipped in six digs.

Mason led the Eagles with five solo blocks and Howdeshell was impressive at the service line with seven aces in the winning effort.

In the opening set, Elms notched a 23-19 lead following an attack error by Daniel Webster before the Eagles rallied with a kill by Vargas and a Blazers' attacking error to set the score at 23-21. Back-to-back kills by Latimer and Rainey allowed Elms to take the first set 25-21.

In the second set, Daniel Webster broke a 15-15 stalemate on an assisted block by Frias and Mason and never looked back, posting a 25-21 victory to even the contest at 1-1 and from there, controlled the pace of play in the third and fourth frames to seal the 3-1 win.