BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Ross Burdett's (Needham, Mass.) six kills, .600 attack percentage, and three aces helped pace the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-9) victory over visiting Mt. Ida Tuesday evening in Greta Northeast Athletic Conference play.
With the win the Leopards improve to 15-6 overall and 4-1 in GNAC play while the Mustangs slip to 7-12 (1-5).
In the opening set the two teams battled at the start and Mustang senior Nick Melillo (North Haven, Conn.) would tie the set at 8-all after a block. Wentworth then took the next four points to take a 12-8 lead. A freshman Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) kill followed by an ace from classmate Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) extended the Leopards lead to 15-10.
After a Wentworth error, Potts recorded an ace and Burdett beat the Mustang defense from the left side to give the Black & Gold an 18-12 advantage. Mount Ida fell behind 20-13, but took five of the next six points to get within three at 21-18.
Melillo got the Mustangs within two at 22-20 with an ace of his own, but Potts rescued the Leopards with back-to-back blocks to make the score 24-20. Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, Fla.) pulled Mount Ida within two, 24-22, with an ace, but followed with a serving error which gave Wentworth the 25-22 win.
After the teams were knotted up at five in the second set, freshman Sam Pisker's (Mullica Hill, N.J.) second kill of the set gave Wentworth a 6-5 advantage. The Leopards extended their lead to 10-7 after a Reed kill from the left-side. Sophomore Dennis Miranda (Hialeah, Fla.) beat the Wentworth defense to get Mount Ida within one at 10-9, but the Leopards then scored three straight points to take a 13-9 lead.
The Mustangs scored two straight points before the Leopards responded with a Burdett kill, a senior Brian Mann (East Freetown, Mass.) block and a Potts kill to extend their lead to 18-12. Mount Ida hung around once again by taking three straight points to get the score to 18-15, but Reed and Potts responded with a pair of kills.
Sophomore Bill Shimkus (Sudbury, Mass.) stepped to the service line and dialed up an ace to get the Leopards to 24 and Reed ended the match 25-17 with another kill.
Shimkus continued his hot serving in the final set and set the Leopards up with a 3-0 advantage. Wentworth would then extend their lead to 9-1 on a Burdett ace in the middle of a 6-0 run that forced a Mustang timeout.
Burdett followed his ace with two more and the Leopards had an 11-1 lead. The Mustangs took two straight points, but Wentworth came back to score the next three to keep their lead at double-digits, 14-3.
Burdett and Shimkus controlled the final stages of the match from the service line with a number of aces, as the Leopards lead ballooned to 21-7. Mann's kill from center-court gave the Black & Gold a 24-9 lead and an unforced error ended the match 25-9.
To go along with Burdett's six kills, freshmen Reed and Potts added six of their own. Reed added two digs and two aces while Potts had two blocks and two aces. Pisker chipped in with five kills and a dig, and freshman Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) recorded 18 assists.
The Mustangs were led by sophomore James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.) 19 kills and three digs. Senior Nick Schibi (Torrington, Conn.) added nine kills while Melillo recorded two kills and a dig. Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, Fla.) led Mt. Ida with 27 assists and three digs in the losing effort.
Wentworth next travels to Emmanuel on Thursday March 20, while Mt. Ida visits Rivier that same day.
