BOSTON, Mass. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team landed five players on the Great Northeast Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams as announced on Tuesday by the league office.
Juniors Ryan Love (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Augusto Rodriguez-Guerrios (San Juan, P.R,) earned First Team Honors, while classmate Xhuljo Zyba (Holbrook, Mass.) earned a spot on the Second Team. Junior Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.) and sophomore Peter Klembczyk (Penfield, N.Y.) were each named to the Third Team. Love and Rodriguez-Guerrios earned First-Team honors for the first time in their respective careers, improving from their Second-Team selections last season. Engel and Zyba represented Wentworth for the first time in their three-year careers, while 2018 Rookie of the Year Klembczyk repeats as an All-Conference selection.
Love paced the Leopard attack with 3.49 kills per set and 307 total, while also averaging 3.8 points per set. A versatile player on the court, Love paved the way offensively and defensively, totaling 134 digs on the season with 28 blocks. He registered three double-doubles this seasons, including a monster-performance of a career-high 23 kills (.360) and 10 digs in the Leopards' four-set win over Emmanuel on March 30. In the postseason, Love registered 40 kills across the two games, including a career-high performance of 27 kills in the Leopards' five-set semifinal win over Johnson & Wales, and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Rodriguez-Guerrios enjoyed his most successful season as Wentworth's primary setter, with 8.26 assists per set and 768 on the year. He passed two milestones, most recently reaching 1,500 career assists, and finished his junior season with 1,586 total, which ranks fourth all-time in the Wentworth men's volleyball record books. Rodriguez-Guerrios rewrote his career-high assists mark three times this season, and set the mark for good with 52 in a five-set match at MIT in late February. He was also influential off the reception, recording four double-doubles with 147 digs and 1.28 digs per set.
Zyba's performance escalated to new heights in the closing part of the Leopards' schedule, as the junior put up double-digit kill totals in his last seven of eight matches. Of those seven matches, he was most influential in Wentworth's 3-2 regular-season win over JWU, where he posted a career and match-high 21 kills. In 25 matches, played, Zyba has hit above .400 five times, including .714 hitting in the Leopards' 3-0 win over Emerson. Overall, Zyba put down 206 kills, 17 services aces, and 36 blocks, all of which factor into his best season with the Black & Gold.
Engel earns his first All-Conference accolade after averaging 2.58 kills per set with 245 kills overall, which ranks second among his teammates for the 2019 season. He started the year with a booming performance of 15 kills in Wentworth's opener at St. John Fisher, and reached double-digits in kills in half of his matches played. In Wentworth's fourth game versus a ranked opponent, Engel set a new career-high with 18 kills against #15 Juniata. Engel notched a double-double six times during his junior season, and swung into 36 service aces, which leads the Leopards and ranks fourth among conference leaders.
Klembczyk, one of the most consistent liberos in the GNAC, earns Third-Team honors after being selected as the 2018 Rookie of the Year. His 330 total digs leads all players across the conference, while his 3.08 digs per set ranks second. He registered 10 or more digs in 13 matches played, and set a new career-high of 31 digs in the Leopards' four-set win over Emmanuel. Klembczyk also earned GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors twice this season.
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