MEN’S VOLLEYBALL TOPS EMERSON IN GNAC PLAY, 3-1

BOSTON, Mass. – Led by a balanced offensive attack, the Emmanuel College men's volleyball swung past Emerson College, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21), Wednesday evening at the Jean Yawkey Center. After dropping the first set, the Saints were able to rally for their second straight GNAC win to improve to 2-0 in conference play and 3-4 overall. The loss drops the Lions to 5-5 overall and 0-2 in GNAC action.

In the opening frame, the action was even as there were 12 ties and 13 lead changes. The Saints held a 14-11 advantage before Emerson rattled off three consecutive points to even the set at 14-all. The squads would trade points until the score was deadlocked at 21-21 before the Lions closed the set strong using a pair of EC hitting errors and kills from freshmen outside hitters Alex Frapech (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Jackson Wiley (Los Angeles, Calif.) to take the 25-21 victory.

The Saints rebounded with a strong second set, hitting .345 as a team in the frame en route to the 25-20 win to even the match at 1-1. Sophomore outside hitter Ashanti Jackson (Sacramento, Calif.) was deadly in the frame, swinging a perfect 1.000 with five kills on five attempts to lead the way.

Emmanuel couldn't bury the Lions in the third set as both teams held leads early on in the frame. Emerson would take control midway through the action, building a 16-12 lead following a Frapech kill before the Saints would rally to get back in the set. A kill by freshman middle hitter Julian Hess (Santa Monica, Calif.) made it a 14-18 score and Hess would take the service for the Saints. Behind the rookies' service, the Saints rattled off four consecutive points to even the score at 18-18 capped by an ace from Hess. Later in the frame, Frapech would put home a kill to keep the score even at 22-all before Emmanuel closed out the set with three straight points to seal the 25-22 win.

The action remained close in the early goings of the fourth set as a Lions' service error evened the score at 9-9 before Emmanuel would take the lead for good on an ace from Jackson to make it 10-9. Sophomore middle hitter Wyatt Cooper (Ridgefield, Conn.) made his presence felt in the middle during the frame putting home four kills while swinging at a .600 clip to help propel the Saints to a 25-21 victory to seal the 3-1 GNAC win.

Frapech led the way for the Lions with a match-high 19 kills while hitting .342 on the night. Freshman setter Brendan McGonigle (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out 30 assists for Emerson.

For Emmanuel, Hess finished the day with a team-high 11 kills and a .526 hitting percentage while Jackson chipped in with nine kills. Freshman outside hitter Barrett Wingard (Dallastown, Pa.) added eight kills while Cooper finished the night with seven kills. Senior setter Nick Updike had a solid all-around game with 40 assists, eight digs, four kills and two aces.

Emmanuel will be idle until next Wednesday when they head to Nashua, NH to take on Rivier University while Emerson is back in action this weekend at the MIT Invitational in Cambridge, Mass. when they take on the host Engineers at 4:00 PM on Feb. 16.