Blazers Drop Conference Tri- Match

BOSTON, MA - The Elms College Men's Volleyball team fall in their final tri match of the regular season on Saturday afternoon. Lasell University (3-0) and Wentworth Institute of Technology (3-0) finished each match in three.

BASICS

Score: Lasers 3 | Blazers 0

Records: Lasers (18-12,12-3) | Blazers (5-22,4-9)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Elms College Men's Volleyball team fell in three sets to the Lasell University Laser son Saturday afternoon. The Blazers fell to set scores of (25-12, 25-11, 25-19). 

In the third set the Blazers were able to find their jumping ahead of the Lasers 11-9 after an attack error and a bad set on Lasells side of the net. The Blazers tried to stay one step ahaead for a couple sets, but the Lasers were quick to answer back with a point keeping the score tied at 11's, 12's, 13's and 14's. The Lasers were able to build off of a 4-0 point run (18-14) as they climb their way to 25. The Blazers were able to continue to chalk up points but fell short 25-19 for the final set.

First year Rafa Artero (Madrid, Spain) was a beast along the net recording 2 solo blocks in the match against the Lasers. Artero would lead the Blazers in solo blocks for the conference tri match.

Jairam Rodriguez (Cidra, PR) finished match one with 6 kills to lead the Blazers, followed by Cecil Villa (Springfield, MA) with 4 in the match. With a hitting percentage of .500 one kill and eight digs, senior Collin Liedke (Newington, CT) adedd more career digs to his overall growing record against Lasell. 

The Lasers' C. Philips, D. Massa, and B. Joyce finished the match recording 9 kills each. Z. Bennet had an outstanding match registering 36 digs in the match against the Blazers.

BASICS

Score: Leopards 3 | Blazers 0

Records: Leopards (22-7,13-1) | Blazers (5-23,4-10)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Elms College Men's Volleyball team kept the second match close as they fell in three sets but only by a couple of points in the first and third against the Wentworth Leopards. The final set scores were 25-19, 25-8, and 25-22. 

In the first set the Blazers opened up with a 4-3 lead over the Leopards. Even thought the lead was flipped and the Blazers began to trail behind for the rest of the set they were able to stay just a step or two behind.  The Leopards were able to capitalize ff of a couple runs to create a three or more point lead to finish out the first set, 25-19.

The largest lead for the Leopards was a five point lead towards the middle of the set when they were able to capitalize off of a couple Blazers errors (13-8). But the Blazer Men did not back down and continued to fight for the rest of the set keeping the score within a 3 point or less difference. With errors coming from both sides o the net the Blazers were able to find themself just one point behind the Leopards, 23-22. Wentworth finished out the match with a final set win of 25-22.

Lewis Torres (Vega Baja, PR) recorded 10 assists and 5 digs in the conference match up against the Leopards. Liedke also recorded a 5 dig match with 1 assists.

Rodriguez was able to add 6 more kills on the day as he led for the Blazers in both matches on Saturday. 

Moose Perry (Holyoke, MA), Artero, and Rodriguez all finished the day with four digs against the Leopards. Klaytin Silva (Worcester, MA) executed 3 kills from 6 attempts in the second match to finish with a .333 hitting pecentage against Wentworth.