BOSTON, Mass. – The eleventh-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology men's volleyball team ran its win streak to four as the Engineers swept a pair of matches at a tri-match hosted by Wentworth Institute of Technology. MIT defeated the host Leopards, 3-2, and swept CCNY, 3-0. In the third match of the day the Leopards swept the Beavers, 3-0.
#11 MIT 3, Wentworth 2
The Engineers rallied from a 2-1 deficit to force a fifth and deciding set and trailed, 6-1, in the final frame before outscoring the leopards by a 14-4 margin to close out the match.
Wentworth took the opening set by a 25-22 score. The Leopards took a 16-11 lead on freshman Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) kill and led 21-15 when freshman Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) recorded a kill. However, the Engineers came back and used a 7-1 spurt to tie the game at 22-all after the Leopards committed an attack error. A kill by Reed, a junior Sean Donahue (Lincoln, R.I.) ace, and an MIT attack error would close out the set.
MIT opened the second set on a 5-1 run, thanks to two kills from junior Chris Ohman (Mount Vernon, Ohio), a kill from junior Alex Klein (San Diego, Calif.) and two Leopard errors. Wentworth would come within three when Donahue and Reed combined on a block, however the Engineers would lead by as many as seven before settling on a 25-20 win to even the match.
The Leopards took a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win in the third set. After Wentworth led by as many as three early, MIT came back to tie the set and nine, 10, and 11-all, however a Donahue kill ended gave the Black & Gold a 12-11 lead, which began a 4-0 spurt and gave the hosts a 15-11 lead. The Engineers would pull within two on three occasions, including at 23-21 after a Leopard attack error, but a senior Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass.) kill and a freshman Sam Pisker (Mullica Hill, N.J.) kill, sandwiched around a service error – gave Wentworth the win.
Needing a win to keep the match alive, the Engineers trailed by as many as four to start the fourth set before tying the set at 15-all when Klein and junior Bradley Gross (Centreville, Va.) combined for a block. The set would be tied at 16 and 17-all before MIT took a 20-17 lead. Wentworth came back to tie the score at 20-all, but a 5-1 Engineer spurt gave MIT the 25-21 win, tying the match at 2-all.
In the fifth set the Leopards scored the first four points and took a 6-1 lead after an attack error. However, MIT scored six of the next seven points and tied the set at 7-all on a senior Kenny Siebert (St. Louis, Mo.) kill. Donahue recorded a kill to give the hosts an 8-7 lead at the changeover and Reed extended the lead to 9-7 with a kill of his own. However, a Siebert kill and back-to-back attack errors gave MIT a 10-9 lead. An Engineer attack error tied the score at 10-all, but five straight points – capped off by a Siebert kill – gave the Engineers a 15-10 win and a 3-2 match victory.
Siebert had 13 kills and hit .321 while Klein added 11 and three blocks. Senior Paul Syta (Fairport, N.Y.) served three aces and had 38 assists, Gross and junior Andrew Busse had four and seven blocks, respectively, and sophomore Brendan Chang (Laytonsville, Md.) and freshman Martin Krasuski (Aurora, Ill.) combined for 55 digs.
Reed mad a match-high 24 kills, hit .383, and had 10 digs. Pisker added 12 kills, 10 digs, six blocks, and two aces, Burdett had seven kills, and Donahue had seven kills and eight blocks. Freshman Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) recorded 46 assists to go along with 10 digs and six blocks. As a team the Leopards had 17 blocks.
#11 MIT 3, CCNY 0
The Engineers continued the momentum from their five-set win over Wentworth and swept the Beavers, 3-0, after hitting .299 as a team and forcing the Beavers to hit -.127. In the first set the Engineers cruised to a 25-8 win after hitting .375 as a team and forcing CCNY to hit -.290. Krauski, Gross, and freshman Sean Kropp (Fairless Hills, Pa.) each had two kills for MIT while senior Nicholas Sirbian (East Meadow, N.Y.) had two of his team's four kills in the opening frame.
MIT scored the first four points of the second set and never looked back, taking a 25-14 victory. Kropp, Krasuski, and junior Tyler Nolan (Sayville, N.Y.) had three kills apiece for the Engineers while Chang, who had five digs in the opening frame, added six more. Senior Evan Wang (Saratoga, Calif.), who had a pair of aces in the first set, had two more in the second. Siriban had three kills to pace CCNY.
The third set saw 16 ties and six lead changes as both teams battled back and forth. MIT would take the lead for good at 17-16 on a kill from Gross and closed out the match with a 25-20 win. Kropp (six kills) and Gross (five kills) paced the Engineer offense while Chang had five digs. Sophomore Leonel Pascual (Bronx, N.Y.) had three kills in the set.
Kropp led MIT with 11 kills to go along with a pair of blocks. Gross (nine kills) and Krasuski (seven kills, two blocks) helped a balanced Engineer attack. Wang had four aces and 31 assists, Busse had three blocks, and Chang had 16 digs.
CCNY was led by Siriban who had six kills and six digs while Pascual added four kills. Junior Anthony Reyes (Queens, N.Y.) had 13 assists.
Wentworth 3, CCNY 0
Wentworth got back on the winning track to close out the day, sweeping CCNY. In the opening set the teams battled through three ties and a pair of lead changes early on before a 7-0 run would break the set open and eventually lead to a 25-11 Leopard win. Burdett (four kills) and Donahue (three kills) led the Leopards, who hit .209 and forced the Beavers to an attack percentage of -.263. Reyes had the lone Beaver kill in the set.
The Leopards extended their lead to 2-0 with a 25-15 win in the second set as the Black & Gold led from start to finish. Freshman Mike Hansen (Rochester, N.Y.) and junior Rami Akouri (Fall River, Mass.) each had two kills while sophomore Bill Shimkus (Sudbury, Mass.) served three aces.
Reed, sophomore Elijah Egalite (Bayonne, N.J.), and Akouri each had three kills in the third set, which Wentworth won by a 25-20 score after the set saw fur ties and three lead changes. Trailing 16-15, the Leopards took an 18-16 lead on three straight Reed kills. CCNY scored the next point on a service error, but would not get the equalizer as a 7-3 spurt – capped by a Shimkus ace – closed out the set and the match. Siriban and junior Brian Yik Lim (Staten Island, N.Y.) combined for five kills in the set.
A balanced attack, led by Akouri's seven kills, paced the Leopard offense as Burdett added five kills and Reed and Donahue had four each. Potts had five blocks, Shimkus served four aces and 13 assists, and Ritter added 10 assists.
Siriban had four kills and three blocks for the Beavers, Yik Lim added three kills and two aces, and freshman David Avezov had seven digs. Sophomore Jia Zuen Liu Liu (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded nine assists.
CCNY
MIT