BROOKLINE, Mass. – After an 18-day layoff, the Wentworth men's volleyball team saw its six-match win streak come to an end as the Leopards were defeated by Newbury, 3-2, in a North East Collegiate Volleyball Association match. The Newbury College men's volleyball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology in five games, 3-2, in Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) action Wednesday evening.
The Nighthawks took the early lead in the first behind senior middle blocker Max Daley (Cranston, R.I./Cranston East) and classmate James Beck's (Havre De Grace, Md./Havre De Grace) five kills apiece but the Leopards were not going to be denied. They clawed their way back to tie up the score at 24 and 25 before ultimately sealing game with a kill from freshman outside hitter Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass./Needham), to give the Leopards the 27-25 win.
Newbury evened up the match in game two. Junior outside hitter Danny Kim (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview JFK) notched a game-high five kills to lead Newbury to the 25-17 victory. Wentworth pulled ahead, taking the third game 25-19. The Leopards were a game away from taking the match when Beck helped force a game five, registering five kills while senior setter Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint) added a game-high 10 assists en route to the 25-19 win in game four.
The fifth game was a barnburner as the score never exceeded two points until freshman outside hitter Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) essentially sealed the game with a kill to give the Nighthawks the 13-9 lead. Newbury never looked back as they took game five, 15-10.
Daley led the Nighthawks registering a match-high 18 kills and five block assists.
Burdett led three Leopards in double figures tallying a team-high 15 kills while senior outside hitter Derek Portugal (Barrington, R.I./Barrington) followed up with 12. Fellow senior middle hitter Lowell Jesmer (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) rounded out the trio in double figures notching 10.
With the win Newbury improves to 18-9 on the season and 11-2 in NECVA while Wentworth falls to 17-7 and 8-4 in NECVA. The Nighthawks return to court tomorrow night when face New England Collegiate Conference foe Elms College at 7:00 p.m., while Wentworth is at Emmanuel at the same time.
-Portions of this Release Courtesy of Newbury Sports Information-
