SAINTS OPEN SEASON WITH SWEEP AT REGIS

WESTON, Mass. – Senior outside hitter Drew Jordan (Braintree, Mass.) had a match-high 16 kills while also recording five digs and two blocks as Emmanuel College defeated non-conference opponent Regis College 3-0 (16-25, 18-25, 18-25) in the Pride's home opener Thursday evening on Higgins Court. With the victory, the Saints get their first win of the year (1-0) and the loss was Regis' second (0-2) on the campaign.

Barrett Wingard (York, Pa.) made nine kills and had six digs with junior setter Jorge Rojas (San Juan, Puerto Rico) handed out a match-best 32 assists. Zach Sindoni (Haverhill, Mass.) led the Pride attack with eight kills and Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) had a .278 hitting percentage, seven kills and five digs.

Emmanuel jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead with freshman Kevin Orsley (San Jose, Calif.) serving and scoring three-of-four points on attack errors by Pride starters. Regis responded by adding three points on errors by Emmanuel including blocks by DJ Lyons (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Brandon Tordoff (Coventry, R.I.) with a kill by Drew Jordan of the Saints mixed in to make the score 5-3. Emmanuel tallied three more points with kills by Barrett Wingard and Garrett McGarry (Chicago, Ill.) which increased the Saints advantage to 8-3.

After a service error by Julian Hess (Venice, Calif.) which made it a four point, 14-10 set. Emmanuel went on a stretch of five straight points with Jorge Rojas serving and converting three service aces and a kill to make it 20-10. Regis could only score six more points however as the Saints took the first set 25-16.

The start of the second set was a different story as Zach Sindoni got the contest started with a thunderous kill assisted by teammate DJ Lyons. Emmanuel would score the next three points before the Pride knotted up the score again with another Sindoni kill. Both squads would keep exchanging points before Emmanuel pulled away in the middle of the second set and won it 25-18.

The final set of the match was close in the beginning with Regis constantly being a thorn in the side of Emmanuel. A Bisnett kill that was set up by a nice set from Joe Hanrahan (Coventry, R.I.) made the game 8-6 in favor as the Saints, but the guests pulled away in the middle of the match again with two errors by the Pride and two kills by Drew Jordan which made it a 15-9 Emmanuel lead. The Saints expanded their advantage to 23-14 before the Pride closed the gap to 24-18 with Sindoni serving before Drew Jordan ended the match with a kill to make the score 25-18.

Joe Hanrahan handed out a team-high 18 assists for the Crimson and Gold while he matched Bisnett with a team-best five digs. Brandon Tordoff led the hosts with three blocks.

Regis returns to the courts on Saturday when they travel to SUNY Poly for a tri-match against Wells College at 2:00 p.m. and SUNY Poly at 4:00 p.m. Emmanuel heads across town to MIT for a tri-match with the Engineers at 10:30 a.m. and Bard College at 1:00 p.m.