Men's Volleyball Wins Opening Matches of Alvernia Invitational

READING, Pa. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team swept Wilson College and Alvernia University in the opening day of the Alvernia Invitational on Friday evening. With the pair of wins, Wentworth improves to 15-6, and faces Lancaster Bible and Wells College tomorrow to wrap up the tournament.

GAME ONE – Wentworth 3 Wilson 1 (25-21, 25-27, 25-18, and 25-18)

Wentworth hit over .200 in all four sets, highlighted by .385 hitting in the final frame. Senior Collin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) recorded his fourth triple-double this season with 13 kills, 18 assists, and 17 digs, and jumped up for a team-best six blocks, while junior Brian Drouse (Dallas, Pa.) followed with five blocks. Junior Jesse Lefler (Rochester, N.Y.) hit .381% and registered eight kills – a season-best -, followed by sophomore Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.) and senior Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.), who each hit into eight kills, respectively.

GAME TWO – Wentworth 3 Alvernia 0 (27-25, 25-10, 25-17)

The Leopards downed the hosts in straight sets, and limited the Golden Wolves to .179%, -.222%, and .057% hitting. Ritter dished out 21 assists in the win, while Oshman led the Leopards with 12 kills on a scorching .846 percentage, and added three services aces, and three blocks. Defensively, Ritter collected nine digs, while freshman Peter Klembczyk (Penfield, N.Y.) added eight of his own.

Wentworth went the distance with the Golden Wolves in the first set, before cruising by the hosts to end the match on a sweep. Alvernia jumped to a 5-2 lead to open the game, before Wentworth rattled off three straight points, courtesy of a kill apiece and an assisted block from the Xhuljo Zyba (Holbrook, Mass.) and Drouse duo. Both teams battled point-for-point, before Alvernia went up three, 19-17, on a pair of Wentworth miscues and a kill from Collin Welteroth. A Ritter kill and an error from Alvernia put the two teams at 19-19, before five ties deadlocked the score 25-25. Drouse gave the Leopards 26 and put the visitors within match-point, where an Alvernia attack error sealed the deal for Wentworth, 27-25.

First serve between Lancaster Bible and Wentworth is set for 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

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