Men's Volleyball Spurned by MIT Engineers

PURCHASE, NY - The Elms College Men's Volleyball team traveled to Cambridge, MA to faceoff against the Engineers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in non-conference action Wednesday night.

BASICS
Score: Elms College 0 (12, 16, 16) | RV Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3 (25, 25, 25)
Records: Blazers 2-7, 0-2 (GNAC) | Engineers 4-4, 0-0 (UVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The opening set would begin with a MIT scoring spree, giving the Engineers an early 7-4 lead, but would be shortly halted by a kill from first-year John Bellafronte (Enfield, CT). MIT would continue their offensive pressure by extending their lead to 17-7, but another kill from first-year Nick Uschmann (Agawam, MA) would pause the Engineers from securing the set momentary. Moments later, first-year Joey Crain (Southwick, MA) and graduate student Pedro De Jesus (East Hartford, CT) would each make kills for the Blazers before the Engineers would capture the first set 25-12.

The second set would begin with a similar start, but senior Collin Liedke (Newington, CT) would set up De Jesus for Elms' first kill of the set to cut the lead in half. MIT would continue to extend their lead, 10-6, but the Blazers would find another kill from Bellafronte. Soon thereafter, Elms would be within a point from obtaining the lead from the Engineers, with the help from kills by De Jesus and Uschmann, but the MIT offense continued their ways and added more points in their favor. Uschmann would record one more kill before the Engineers secured the second set 25-16.

MIT would carry their momentum into the third and final set, racking up an early 14-3 lead before first-year Al Sánchez (Guayama, PR) would add his name to the box score by recording a kill. The Blazers would find other offensive moments to extend the set, like kills from De Jesus and Uschmann and a service ace from sophomore David Thompkins (Southwick, MA), but the Engineers would hold off Elms and win the set 25-16.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Liedke would record a team leading 10 digs and 10 assists, with a block.

• De Jesus made a total of five kills and two assists.

• Uschmann added four kills, three digs, and two blocks in the matchup.

• Sophomore Rafa Artero (Madrid, Spain) would lead the Blazers with four blocks.

UP NEXT: The Elms Men's Volleyball team will return home to host SUNY Potsdam and Brooklyn College in a tri-match at Picknelly Arena on Saturday, February 17th at 11AM and 3PM.

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