AUBURNDALE, Mass. - Junior Jake Reed (Arvada, Colo.) and sophomore Jon Roat (Macedon, N.Y.) each put up double digits in kills to help lift the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team to its fifth consecutive win as the Leopards defeated Great Northeast Athletic Conference foe Lasell College, 3-1, on Thursday night. The win for the Leopards moves the Black & Gold into first place in the GNAC and earns the squad a first-round bye in next week's conference tournament.
With the win Wentworth improves to 19-8 overall and 11-2 in league play while the Lasers fall to 14-2 (10-2).
The two teams kept the score close in the early portions of the first set, but two 3-0 spurts by Wentworth allowed the Leopards to take the 16-9 lead over the Lasers. After a Wentworth service error brought Lasell within six at 19-13, the Leopards pieced together a 6-1 run that capped off a 25-14 first set win. Wentworth his .500 in the opening frame while forcing Lasell to hit -.118.
Lasell hit .455 in the second set to even the game at 1-1 with a tight, 25-21 victory. Much like the first set, both Lasell and Wentworth kept the score within a one-point differential through the beginning of the second. A Leopard service error capped off a 3-0 Lasers' run that put the Lasers up 13-8, but Wentworth kept fighting back. A kill by sophomore Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) cut the Lasers' lead down to one at 22-21, but a kill from senior Ryan Jackson (Canton, Ohio) helped set off a late 3-0 run for Lasell to take the second set, 25-21 and evened the match at 1-1.
Wentworth played from behind much of the third, but back-to-back kills from Reed and junior Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) helped the Leopards even the score at 11-11. After the score went back and forth deep into the set, Lasell had a short-lived lead at 26-25. Oshman recorded back-to-back kills to make it 2-7-26 in favor of the visitors. A service error evened score once again at 27-27, but Reed and Oshman notched the set-winning kills as Wentworth took the 29-27 win and went up 2-1.
The Leopards recorded 12 kills in the fourth set to help them hit an impressive .524, while Lasell hit just .057. The Lasers were able to cut the lead down to four on a kill by junior Patrick MacDonald (Floral Park, N.Y.), but that was the closest the hosts would get. While the Leopards' offense surged and Wentworth took its biggest lead at 22-9, the Lasers managed to get three points back thanks to kills from Jackson and Tristan Davis. However, Reed notched two kills that helped the Leopards cruise to a 25-12 win in the fourth and take the match 3-1.
Reed had 16 kills on 25 swings and made just one attack error to hit .600. Roat added 15 kills and a pair of blocks, Potts hit .750 (10-1-12) and had a pair of blocks, sophomore Sean Mullen (Longwood, Fla.) had nine kills and served five aces, and Oshman finished with nine kills. Sophomore Kevin McPeek (Bethlehem, Pa.) had 50 helpers and junior Mike Rogachefsky (Rochester, N.Y.) had a dozen digs.
MacDonald led the Lasers with 14 kills, while Jackson followed with nine kills and eight digs. Senior Andrew Glenn (Westport, Conn.) had 37 helpers.
Both teams wrap up regular-season play on Saturday. Wentworth is at Emerson while Lasell plays a tri-match at Emmanuel against the Saints and Johnson & Wales.
