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#12 Men's Volleyball Continues Strong Run, Tops MIT

Photo by Eli Sleasman '24
Photo by Eli Sleasman '24

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Guided by a combined 30 kills from the duo of senior Hunter Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) and junior Jacob LaBouliere (Pipersville, Pa.), the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team (22-6) topped the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers (14-13) in four sets, good for the team's program-record 19th-straight win.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

  • After errors filled the first points of the initial set, a kill by Oshman gave Wentworth a 3-1 lead. After kills by Oshman continued the Leopards' lead to 5-3 and later 8-3, two-straight kills from LaBouliere extended the Leopards' lead to 12-5. Two kills from LaBouliere and one from freshman Nicolai Bell (Moraga, Calif.) marked a 17-8 advantage. After a slight push back by the Engineers, kills by Oshman, Bell, and LaBouliere clinched the visitors a 25-17 set win and a 1-0 match lead.
  • MIT started the second set with a 5-2 lead before two kills from Oshman and an error tied the set at five-apiece. Behind 7-5, and later 9-7, two kills by sophomore Sam Etter (Massillon, Ohio) in the sequences following dwindled Wentworth's deficit to one each time, resulting in a 9-8 score. The hosts held a one point lead for the middle portion of the set until they took a 16-13 lead, to which the Leopards again dwindled the deficit to one on kills by Etter and LaBouliere. Two-straight LaBouliere kills eventually tied the match at 17-17 before the two teams swapped points. Errors gave Wentworth a 24-22 lead before a service ace by senior Tristan McDonough (Shelton, Conn.) notched the Leopards a 25-22 set win and a 2-0 match lead.
  • The two teams traded points to start the third set until a Bell kill tied the set at 4-4. After MIT rattled off four-straight points, two Etter kills cut the deficit to 8-6 before MIT stretched their lead to 15-8. Wentworth closed the gap on errors but eventually dropped the set by a 25-15 score, having MIT cut the match deficit to one at 2-1.
  • A kill by Oshman gave Wentworth a 1-0 lead to start the fourth set before an Etter kill and service ace helped continue the lead to 4-1. Later knotted at 5-5, a LaBouliere kill set the Leopards out to 6-5 advantage before an Oshman kill marked a 7-5 lead. After an Etter kill marked a 9-8 lead and a Bell kill marked a 10-9 lead, kills by McDonough and LaBouliere marked a 15-13 lead. Errors for the Engineers gave Wentworth a 22-15 lead before a kill by Oshman gave Wentworth a 25-18 set win and a 3-0 match win.

SERIES NOTES:

  • Wentworth has won two of the last four matchups with the Engineers.

 NEXT UP:

  • The Leopards host a tri-match against Lasell (11:00 a.m.) and Elms (3:00 p.m.) Saturday, celebrating their Senior Day in the latter of the two matches.

 

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