MARCY, N.Y.– The No. 10 Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team opened up the 2018 season with a 1-1 outing at the SUNY Polytechnic Wildcat Invitational. The Leopards fell to Nazareth 3-2 (17-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-27, 11-15) in the opening match, and defeated Wells 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23).
MATCH ONE: Nazareth 3, Wentworth 2
Down a set 0-1 to open the season, the Leopards clawed back in the second and third set against the Golden Flyers, hitting .448 and .409, respectively. Sophomore Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.) led all players with 17 kills, three blocks and nine digs for 21.5 points, while senior teammate Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) hit .579 with 11 kills and zero errors, dishing out 23 assists in the setback.
Nazareth took the third set by extra points, 27-25, forcing a fifth, and came out with a 15-11 final set victory to knock off the No. 10 Leopards. Freshman Peter Klembczyk (Penfield, N.Y.) and senior Jon Roat (Rochester, N.Y.) led the Black & Gold defensively, contributing 13 and 10 digs, respectively.
MATCH TWO: Wentworth, 3 Wells 1
After knocking off No. 4 Vassar in a season-opening upset, the Express hit .310 to tie the match 1-1 with the Leopards after a 25-20 second set win. Wentworth held on to close the doors on the match, and hit .308 in the final set to secure the 3-1 match victory.
Roat led the Black & Gold offensively with 12 kills and three blocks for 17.5 points. Senior teammate Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) contributed 10 total blocks in the match – including five solo blocks – while swinging into seven kills with just two errors. Ritter added 25 assists with eight kills of his own, while Engel and senior Kevin McPeek (Bethlehem, Pa.) hit the floor for 10 digs apiece.
Wentworth will play its final two matches in the SUNY Poly Wildcat Invite this afternoon. The Leopards face No. 4 foe Vassar at 11:00 a.m., and close out the weekend against the host Wildcats at 3:00 p.m.
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