BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Conor Burton (Valencia, Calif.) and junior Nadav Swarttz (Newton, Mass.) recorded 13 and 12 kills, respectively, to help the Emerson College men's volleyball team downed Wentworth, 3-1 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. With the win the Lions improve to 8-11 overall and 3-7 in the GNAC while Wentworth falls to 11-11 (6-4).
The opening game saw Emerson rally from a 7-4 deficit to take a 12-9 lead on a Leopard attack error. Wentworth forcedfour ties and held a 22-21 lead on a Lion error but a senior Stephen Selnick (Cheshire, Conn.) kill and a pair of Wentworth errors made it 24-22 in favor of the visitors. Sophomore Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass.) kept the Black & Gold alove with a kill, but a Swartzz kill ended the game, 25-23. Burdett recorded nine kills in the game.
Both teams had extremely solid hitting games in the second game as Wentworth would hit .438 and Emerson .353. The visitors would hold an early, 10-6 lead before the Leopards went on an 8-2 run, keyed by a pair of Burdett kills and led, 14-12, after an Emerson error. The Lions built up a lead of 20-16 before the Leopards came back to at 22-all and led, 24-22, after a freshman Israel Shaw (New Ipswich, N.H.) kill and an Emerson error. The Lions, however, score the next four points, with three points coming by way of kills and a Selnick ace.
Wentworth battled back in the third game to 25-18 lead as the hosts broke open a 14-all tie with an 11-4 run. During the run the Leopards Burdett had three kills while sophomore Mike Buonincontra had a kill, an ace, and four assists.
Emerson held Wentworth to an attack percentage of .091 in the fourth game, while hitting .333 and recording three total blocks as the Lions closed out the match with a 25-16 win. Burton had five kills and two blocks to help the visitors take the win.
In addition to his 13 kills, Burton finished with five blocks, while junior Eric Doherty (Millis, Mass.) had nine digs. Selnick had 39 assists to help Emerson hit .288 for the match.
Burdett finished with 26 kills and 13 digs, while Shaw added 10 kills and a pair of blocks. Buonincontra had a solid all-round match with four kills, 11 digs, two aces, and 31 assists. Freshman Rami Akouri (Fall River, Mass.) and sophomore Brian Mann (East Freetown, Mass.) added seven and six kills, respectively.
Wentworth is at Elms on Saturday to face both Elms and Regis.
