MEN’S VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO No. 14 MIT, 3-0

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (17-25, 18-25, 21-25) decision to No. 14 MIT on Tuesday evening at the Andy Yosinoff Court. The Engineers improve to 17-3 on the season and have now won 12 in a row while the loss drops the Saints to 5-10 overall.

MIT opened the match rattling off eight consecutive points to take command of the first set and it proved to be the difference as the Engineers held on for an eight-point 25-17 win in the frame. The visitors hit .303 as a team in the stanza to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Saints could not slow down the high-powered Engineer attack early on in the second set, falling behind by four points at 7-3 following a kill by sophomore setter Tize Dong (Moraga, Calif.) MIT maintained the four-point cushion through a 13-9 lead before Emmanuel put together a 4-0 run capped by an ace from sophomore Kevin Orsley (San Jose, Calif.) to tie the score at 13-13. The visitors responded with three straight points to take the lead for good, cruising to a 25-18 win in the second frame to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Emmanuel gave the Engineers all they could handle for most of the third frame, leading 15-12 midway through the action. MIT was able to even the score at 15-all before the squads battled for momentum down the stretch. A kill by EC sophomore outside hitter Erik English (Simi Valley, Calif.) gave the hosts a 20-19 lead but back-to-back points by MIT put the visitors on top 21-20. Orsley evened the score at 21-21 with his fourth kill of the match before the Engineers closed things out with the final four points of the night to seal the 25-21 win and take the match, 3-0.

English led all players with 13 kills to go along with a 13 digs for a double-double. Sophomore middle Alex Silva (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) added eight kills while sophomore setter Seamus McDonagh (Long Beach, N.Y.) dished out 25 helpers for Emmanuel.

For MIT, sophomore Steven Timberman (Merrick. N.Y.) registered a team-high eight kills while junior middle Andrew Hall (Lynnfield, Mass.) added seven kills and a .467 hitting percentage. Dong finished the match with 30 assists and sophomore libero Jordan Lucier (Torrance, Calif.) got down for 13 digs.

The Saints are now idle until they return to action after the spring break week when they host Johnson & Wales University on March 14 at 7:00 PM in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. The Engineers are back on Saturday, March 4 in a tri-match against No. 6 Vassar College and No. 15 Juniata College taking place in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.