Leopards Sweep Elms to Open Season

(Courtesy of Elms Sports Information)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Wentworth men's volleyball team opened the 2010 season – and the tenure of first-year head coach Rob Mullowney – with a 3-0 win over Elms in the first of the Leopards' two matches Saturday (30-21, 34-32, 30-18).

With Wentworth leading 1-0 in the opening match, the sides played a tightly contested second set, battling to 18 ties and eight lead changes. Leading 29-28, Elms earned a set-point opportunity, but a service error knotted the score at 29-29. Wentworth's Dan Mulvey (Halifax, Mass.) downed a kill to give the Leopards a 30-29 lead, before a service error evened the contest at 30-30. With the score locked at 32-32 after a sequence of miscues by both sides, Tom Ceurvels (Weymouth, Mass.) and Lowell Jesmer (Rochester, N.Y.) registered a kill each to give the Leopards a hard-fought 34-32 victory in the frame and post a 2-0 lead in the match.

Wentworth raced out to a quick 7-0 lead in the third stanza and scored 15 of the next 23 points to extend the lead to 22-8. The Leopards kept their cushion and sealed the match with a 30-18 victory.

Cameron collected a team-high seven kills in the opening match and recorded six digs. Ryan directed the offense with 19 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Mike Martin (Enfield, Conn.) and sophomore opposite hitter Mike Kleckner (Bethlehem, Pa.) contributed 11 digs each in the losing effort.

Ceurvels and Gregory each finished with a match-high 19 kills, Marc Larue (Lincoln, R.I.) dug a match-best 20 balls in the winning effort. Jesmer finished with eight kills and eight digs, while Tyler Moriarty (Wilbraham, Mass.) passed out 28 assists to guide the Wentworth attack.