Men's Volleyball Sweeps Tri-Match

BOSTON, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team ran its win streak to four and improved to 5-4 on the season as the Leopards swept a pair of non-league matches, defeating Johnson & Wales, 3-1, and City College of New York, 3-1.  In the day's middle match, Johnson & Wales downed CCNY, also by a 3-1 score.

The Leopards dropped the first game to Johnson & Wales, 25-23, after the Wildcats jumped out to an early lead of 12-7 and upped their lead to 20-12.  However, the Leopards clawed their way back into the game by scoring 11 of the next 14 points, including a stretch of seven in a row, and tied the game at 23-all.  Johnson & Wales used a kill and a Leopards' net error to hold on and lead, 1-0.

In the second game Wentworth took a 13-8 lead before Johnson & Wales pulled within two points on four separate occasions, including at 23-21, and trailed by just one (23-22) before the Leopards took the next two points to even the match at a game apiece.

Trailing, 6-5, in the third game, the Leopards used a 12-4 run to take a 17-10 lead, a lead they would not relinquish in a 25-15 win.  The hosts closed out the match in the fourth game with a 25-11 vistory.

Senior Derek Portugal paced the offense with 19 kills, while classmate Lowell Jesmer (Rochester, N.Y.) had 12 and freshman Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass.) added 11.  Jesmer led the team with four blocks and freshman Mike Buonincontra (Shelton, Conn.) had 11 digs.  Sophomore Tyler Moriarty (Wilbraham, Mass.) had 45 assists, nine digs, and five aces in the win.

Johnson & Wales was paced by freshman Alex Viera (Bay Shore, N.Y.), who had nine kills and five digs, while freshman Shawn Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) had eight kills and 12 digs.  Senior Steven Velez (San Antonio, Texas) led the team with 14 digs.

The Wildcats dropped the first game against CCNY, 25-16, after five early ties turned into a 14-9 lead for the Beavers.  Johnson & Wales came back to pull within three on two occasions, including at 17-14, but the Beavers held the Wildcats to just two points down the stretch.

Johnson & Wales rebounded in the second game to even the match at 1-all with a 25-21 win, leading start to finish and opening up a nine-point lead (19-10).  With the Wildcats holding game point at 24-15, CCNY scored the next five points, but would get no closer.  The third game was a back and forth affair early that featured four ties.  The fifth tie of the game came at 15-all, after the Beavers were down, 15-10.  A quick spurt by JWU made it a 20-16 game, but the Wildcats scored five of the final seven points to take the win and a 2-1 edge in the match.

Needing a win to keep the match alive, CCNY found itself trailing, 4-1, to open the game.  The deficit swelled to 11-6 and as many as eight before the Beavers stormed back to come within a pair at 21-19 and found themselves down 24-23 before Johnson & Wales capitalized on an error to end the match with a 25-23 win.

Viera led the Wildcats with 13 kills and also recorded six digs, while Kennedy had eight kills, 10 digs, and seven aces.  Sophomore Curtis DelValle (Billerica, Mass.) chipped in with five kills and three aces for Johnson & Wales, which stands at 2-3.

CCNY received a 15-kill, 12-dig performance from sophomore Matthew Ng (Bayside, N.Y.), while classmate Nicholas Siriban (East Meadow, N.Y.) added eight kills.  Freshman Yik Lim (Staten Island, N.Y.) had 31 assists and a pair of aces.

In the day's final match, Wentworth cruised to an opening-game win, 25-14, before CCNY opened the second game on a 7-1 run and never looked back, evening the match at 1-all with a 25-12 win.  The Leopards rebounded in the third game to take a 25-18 win after extending a 14-10 lead to a 21-15 lead and finished the game with five of the final seven points.

Wentworth improved to 5-4 on the season by closing out the match in the fourth game, 25-16.  The opening stages of the game saw 10 ties, including at 14-14, but, after winning a point to make it 15-14, Jesmer scored six straight points from the service line, including a pair aces.

Burdett and Portugal had 14 and 10 kills, respectively, with Jesmer and senior Dan Mulvey (Halifax, Mass.) combining for 19 kills.  Mulvey, who had three blocks in the first match, had two more in the second match.  Moriarty had 44 assists and seven digs, while Burdett had three aces.

Siriban led CCNY with 14 kills, with Ng adding 10 kills and a pair of blocks.  Lim had 28 assists and nine digs for the Beavers, who fall to 0-7.

Wentworth is at Kean on Friday, Feb. 4.