BOSTON, Mass. – The Wentworth men's volleyball team improved to 8-2 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play after a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) of Lasell College on Thursday evening inside the Lasell Athletic Center.
Wentworth moves to 15-9 overall and came out on top in both conference matches against the Lasers, who drop to 12-13 this season an 6-5 against league opponents.
While all sets were evenly contested, Wentworth hit .253 to Lasell's .157, and held a 40-28 advantage in kills, led by ten apiece from juniors Ryan Love (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Xhuljo Zyba (Holbrook, Mass.). Both teams had their fair share of service errors, Wentworth with 18 and Lasell with 12, while the Leopards notched six aces compared to the Lasers' one.
In the opening set and the only frame won by more than two points, Zyba took the service line with Wentworth holding a 22-19 lead. Combined with an ace and a kill from David Marsh, the Black & Gold were awarded match-point, and finished on a Love kill to the back row from freshman Connor Adams (Budd Lake, N.J.).
After a 14-14 tie in the second set, Marsh swung into his second service ace and used a kill apiece from juniors Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.) and Scott Skarzynski (Webster, N.Y.) for a quick 3-0 run. The Leopards never surrendered the lead despite Lasell pulling within a single point four times, including at 24-23 after a WIT miscue, before Skarzynski put the set away with a kill from Adams.
A pair of kills from Dillon DeSouza (Enfield, Conn.) gave Lasell an early advantage in the third which they carried into the middle of the set, as a lift from Wentworth gave the Lasers a 15-10 lead. The Leopards chipped away at the lead with a kill apiece from Skarzynski and freshman Drew Potter (Towson, Md.), and ignited a turning point in the set with a 6-2 run to pull within a single point. Lasell held on to the one-point gap up until they hit 21 in the set, as a Conor Leary-Watson (Bethany, Conn.) error tied things up 21-21. The set tied twice more at 22-22 and 23-23, before an effective Potter smashed back-to-back kills to give Wentworth the league victory.
Love and Zyba each hit above .300, with Love leading the duo on .364 hitting with a service ace. Zyba's 10 kills marks his third straight game in double figures while, three assisted blocks and an ace factored into his team-high 12.5 points.
All players who saw the court for Wentworth registered at least one dig in the winning effort, led by sophomore Peter Klembczyk who totaled 10 on the night. Adams and junior Augusto Rodriguez-Guerrios (San Juan, P.R.) split setter duties with 14 and 22 assists, respectively.
Wentworth now has four conference contests remaining, and will play two on Saturday with a GNAC tri-match at Emerson with Emmanuel.
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