Men's Volleyball Swamp Gators

ALBANY, NY - The Elms College Men's Volleyball team matched up against Sage College in non-conference action at the Kohl Campus Center Thursday evening.

BASICS
Score: Elms College 3 (24, 25, 25, 25) | Sage College 1 (26, 14, 21, 15)
Records: Blazers 5-16, 0-6 (GNAC) | Gators 6-16, 1-4 (NEVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The opening set began with neither team willing to back down from another. Elms recorded a couple of kills via first-years Nick Uschmann (Agawam, MA) and Joey Crain (Southwick, MA), but Sage had an answer every time. Elms started to pull away a little bit when graduate student Pedro De Jesus (East Hartford, CT), first-year John Bellafronte (Enfield, CT), and Crain recorded a kill each to put the Blazers up 15-12. The lead never got above 3 for Elms, as Sage remained aggressive. Uschmann and De Jesus recorded a couple late kills to tie the set 24-24, but the Gators would capitalize after a kill and a service ace to take the first set 24-26.

Elms started off the second set with a couple kills by Uschmann and Bellafronte to jump out to a close lead. Sage threatened to come back and take the lead, but Elms continued to receive contributions from Crain, De Jesus, and graduate student Colin Liedke (Newington, CT). The Blazers continued to take advantage of Sage errors, scoring some points off of service errors. Crain, De Jesus, and Bellafronte continued to lead the way for the Blazers, and Elms jumped out to a huge set lead. With the duo of recording kills and scoring points off service aces, the Blazers won the second set 25-14.

The third set would start in Elms' favor, with the help from kills by Crain and De Jesus, but the score would become close after the Gators capitalized on a few mistakes by the Blazers. Fortunately after those mistakes, Elms would rediscover their offense, with the assistance of kills by Uschmann, Liedke, De Jesus, and sophomore Rafa Artero (Madrid, Spain), and widen the margin enough to take the set 25-21.

The fourth and final set would again begin with a close start, but the Blazers would capitalize on mistakes by Sage, as well as create offensive momentum with kills by Crain and Bellafronte. The Gators would narrow the lead, but Elms would put a stop to the Gators by recording a combined seven kills and two service aces, by Artero and first-year Al Sánchez (Guayama, PR), to wrap up the set and the match 25-15.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• De Jesus: 14 kills, six digs, four service aces, two assists, and 2.0 blocks.

• Liedke: 38 assists, five kills, and two service aces.

• Bellafronte: seven kills, 2.5 blocks, two service aces, and a dig.

• Crain: seven kills and two digs.

UP NEXT: The Blazers will travel to Franklin, MA competing in a tri-match, hosted by Dean College, against No. 1 Wentworth Institute of Technology and the Bulldogs at 1 & 3 PM.

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