Men's Volleyball Knocks off Emmanuel, Eastern Nazarene in First Home Tri-Match

BOSTON, Mass. – The No. 11 Wentworth men's volleyball team swept its first home tri-match of the season with Emmanuel and Eastern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.

The Leopards downed the Saints and the Lions in straight sets and improve to 1-1 in conference play while shifting to 7-3 overall.

In the natural match, Emmanuel escaped with a 3-1 victory over Eastern Nazarene, as the Saints shift to 3-7 this season. The Lions drop to 2-6 with the pair of losses.

 MATCH ONE: Wentworth 3, Emmanuel 0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-16)

Senior Jon Roat (Rochester, N.Y.) hit .471% to lead the Leopard attack with nine kills, five aces and 16 points. Junior Jesse Lefler (Rochester, N.Y.) followed with eight kills, while senior Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) dished out 21 assists, and added six kills and seven digs. Defensively, senior Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) jumped up for six of Wentworth's 16 team blocks, while Roat added four of his own.

For the Saints, junior Erik English (Simi Valley, Calif.) finished with nine kills and led the visitors defensively with 10 digs. Sophomore Seamus McDonagh (Long Beach, N.Y.) served up 19 assists as Emmanuel's primary setter.

The Leopards jumped to an early 6-2 lead with Oshman on the serve and turned a 7-2 run to lead Emmanuel 13-4 early on. Roat gave Wentworth its first double-digit lead, 19-9, which the Leopards carried until Lefler's final kill for the 25-14 final. Oshman again gave the Leopards an early comfortable lead in the second set, 7-3, forcing the visiting Saints to burn a timeout. English and sophomore Manuel Velez (San Jose, Costa Rica) pulled Emmanuel within three, 9-6, but Wentworth ripped off the next 10 of 16 points for a 19-12 advantage. A trio of services errors from Emmanuel, combined with a kill apiece from Oshman and junior Ryan Love (Gaithersburg, Md.), set the Leopards up for match point 24-14, before a block from Roat and Oshman sealed the set 25-14.

In the final set between the two Boston teams, Wentworth built an early 10-point lead, 16-6, led by a kill and two service aces from Roat. Emmanuel turned a quick 6-2 spurt, including two kills and a service ace from English, but the Leopards put away the final five of seven points to earn the conference sweep.

MATCH TWO: Emmanuel 3, Eastern Nazarene 1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22)

English recorded his fourth double-double of the season, and exploded for 17 kills (.316%), 15 digs and four aces in the neutral match. Sophomore John Carroll (Massapequa, N.Y.) rounded out double-digit kills for the Saints with 13, while McDonagh dished out a season-high 44 assists. English led the Saints' strong defensive effort with his 15 digs, followed by sophomore Max Gottuso (Long Beach, N.Y.) and McDonagh, who recorded 11 and nine digs, respectively.

For the Lions, senior Kenny Sorensen (Quincy, Mass.) smashed a career-high 20 kills and added 11 digs for his second double-double of the year. Sorensen soared well above his teammates, as sophomore Andrew Jayne (Quincy, Mass.) followed with five kills, while senior Andrew Shaw (Weymouth, Mass.) hit the floor for 13 digs.

MATCH THREE: Wentworth 3, Eastern Nazarene 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-19)

Love continued his strong performance from the morning match, swinging into 12 kills (.308%) to lead Wentworth to its straight sweep of the Lions. Ritter followed with nine kills and 16 assists, while freshman Garrett Vermeulen (Fairport, N.Y.) added six kills on nine swings for a .556 percentage.

Two Lions reached double figures in the kills column, again led by Sorenson with 10 kills and five digs. Teammate Samuel Cueva (Swampscott, Mass.) added 10 of his own on 16 attempts for a .562 hitting percentage, while senior Matthew Tyree (Lansdale, Pa.) served 25 of 26 total assists in the effort. 

The first set of the final match witnessed six ties before Wentworth began to pull away with a kill from Love, 13-10. A bad set from the Leopards and a Cueva kill pulled the Lions back within two, but Eastern Nazarene was forced to take a timeout after a blast from sophomore Scott Skarzynski (Webster, N.Y.) gave Wentworth a 17-12 advantage. Love gave the Leopards match point 24-20 as both teams headed into the final set after a Lions' attacking error.

Love took the service line first in the second set, as Wentworth built a 5-2 advantage with four unanswered points. Sophomore Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.) doubled the hosts' lead 6-3, as the Leopards turned an 8-4 run to hold the comfortable advantage. The Lions tacked on two points before Wentworth rattled off six straight points – including two kills from Ritter and one from junior Brian Drouse (Dallas, Pa.) – to force another ENC timeout. Both teams battled point for point to close the middle set, with Wentworth taking the final point from a service error on Sorensen. The Leopards closed out the afternoon hitting a match-high .394 in the last set, and limited Eastern Nazarene to just eight kills. 

Wentworth is back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Johnson & Wales for a crucial GNAC matchup. First serve between the Leopards and the Wildcats is set for 7:00 p.m.

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