MARCY, N.Y. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team improved to 3-0 on the season as the Leopards took a pair of matches on day one of the 2015 SUNYIT Wildcat Invitational. Wentworth did not drop a set in the two victories, defeating Bard and the host Wildcats by identical, 3-0 scores.
Wentworth made quick work of the Raptors, winning the first two sets by 25-8 and 25-9 scores, respectively, before closing out the match with a 25-16 win in the third set. The Leopards hit a match-high .435 in the second set and forced Bard to have a negative attack percentage in each of the first two sets (-.091 and -.318, respectively).
Freshman Sean Mullen (Longwood, Fla.) paced the offense with nine kills and an attack percentage of .444 to go along with three service aces. Freshman Lucas Grevers (Norwalk, Conn.) had six kills and classmate Jon Roat (Macedon, N.Y.) added four kills and two blocks. Sophomore Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) had five blocks, sophomore Paul Cooke (Ridgefield, Conn.) had 14 assists, sophomore Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, N.Y.) had eight assists, and sophomore Mike Rogochefsky (Rochester, N.Y.) had seven digs.
The Leopards hit .556 as a team in the opening set against SUNYIT, making just two errors on 18 swings. Roat had four kills on five swings, Potts had three kills and three blocks, and sophomore Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) had three kills and two aces.
Despite hitting .320 as a team in the second set, Wentworth had to rally to take a 27-25 win. SUNYIT led 20-17 before four straight Leopard points gave the Black & Gold a 21-20 lead. The set would be tied at 21, 22, 23, and 24-all before senior Sean Donahue (Lincoln, R.I.) recorded a kill to put the Leopards at set point. However, the hosts knotted the score at 25-all with a kill before back-to-back kills from Potts and Roat closed out the set.
Another strong hitting set saw Wentworth hit .444 as a team, again making just two errors in the set. The Leopards held a three-point lead numerous times throughout the set, however found themselves trailing 21-20. A Donahue kill evened the score and started a 5-0 run to close the match. In addition to his kill, Donahue teamed with Ritter for a block assist, Mullen had a kill, and the Wildcats committed a pair of errors.
Reed finished with nine kills and three aces and Mullen had eight kills and committed just one error for a hitting percentage of .583 while also recording five digs. Roat had eight kills, five digs, and five blocks, Donahue had six kills and hit .625, Potts had six kills, hit .667, and recorded seven blocks, and Ritter had 33 assists. As a team Wentworth hit .429 for the match.
The Leopards finished first in Pool A and will face the winners of Pool B and Pool C on Saturday to wrap up the tournament. At 1:00, Wentworth will square off against ninth-ranked Nazareth, the Pool B winner, while at 3:00, the Black & Gold square off against Pool C winner Vassar.
Bard
SUNY Poly