Men's Volleyball Earns Top Seed in ECAC Tournament
Leopards (22-8) will play Southern Vermont (16-10) in a semifinal at Stevenson University on Saturday
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BOSTON, Mass. – For the third straight season and fourth time in the last five seasons, the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team has earned a spot in the ECAC Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament.
The Leopards (22-8), who are the defending champions, will be the tournament's top seed and will face fourth-seeded Southern Vermont (16-10) at Stevenson University in Owings Mills, Md. in one semifinal on Saturday (1:00) while the second-seeded and host Mustangs (17-13) kick off the tournament with an 11:00 semifinal against third-seeded Hunter (21-13). The two winners will square off in the championship match at approximately 3:00 p.m.
Wentworth fell to eventual champion Lasell, 3-0, in the semifinals of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament. It marked the second straight season the Black & Gold have been in the semifinals. The Leopards spent the majority of the season ranked in the AVCA Top 15 and were ranked in each of the three published NCAA Regional Rankings. This marks the third straight season the Leopards have won 20 or more matches.
Fourth-year head coach Evin Giglio's has five all-conference players, including freshman Sean Mullen (Longwood, Florida), who was named the GNAC Rookie of the Year and a third team all-conference honoree. Sophomores Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) and Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) were named to the first team, sophomore Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) was named to the second team, and sophomore Mike Rogachefsky (Rochester, N.Y.) was named to the third team.
As a team Wentworth is third among Division III schools in aces per set with 2.18 and fifth in blocks per set with 2.51. Individually Mullen and Reed are in the top 15 for aces per set with Mullen at 0.63 and Reed at 0.56, while Potts is ninth in hitting percentage at .392 and 10th in blocks per set at 1.14, and Ritter is 15th in assists per set with 9.82.
The semifinal meeting against the Mountaineers marks the 12th all-time meeting between the two schools with Wentworth holding a 10- advantage. Should the Leopards advance to the finals, they are 2-5 all-time against Stevenson and 3-2 against Hunter, including earning a 3-0 win on February 14.
Wentworth defeated Penn State-Behrend, 3-0, in last year's semifinals and rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat host Stevenson in the title match. The Leopards made ECAC Tournament appearances in 2011, losing to Endicott in the semifinals, and in 2013, where the Leopards defeated Elmira, 3-0, in the semifinals before falling, 3-1, to Sage in the finals.