WINGARD POWERS SAINTS INTO GNAC SEMIFINALS WITH 3-0 WIN OVER JWU

BOSTON, Mass. – No. 4 seeded Emmanuel College swept No. 5 Johnson & Wales University, 3-0, in the opening round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday night.  The battle in Emmanuel's Jean Yawkey Center featured a pair of closely matched teams, who had split during the regular season.  The host Saints used a 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22 victory to improve to 11-11 on the season and advance to the GNAC semifinal round this Thursday night.  Johnson & Wales dropped to 20-11 on the season with the loss.

The Saints combined to hit .281 as a team, led by junior outside hitter Barrett Wingard (York, Pa.), who slammed down 14 kills in 23 swings with just two errors on the night.  Wingard was unstoppable in set two with eight of his 14 kills coming in the second set.

The match opened with the Wildcats jumping out to a 12-9 lead and forcing an Emmanuel timeout, following consecutive Saints' hitting and blocking errors.  Out of the timeout, a kill by senior outside hitter Ashanti Jackson (Sacramento, Calif.) and an ace from Garrett McGarry (Chicago, Ill.) tied the set at 12-all.  Strong serving from Jackson put EC out in front 18-16 and forced the Wildcats to signal for a timeout. JWU kills from Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) and Don Dias (Scituate, R.I.) kept it close for the visitors at 21-19.

A right-side swing from Austin Cockerill (Darien, Conn.) gave Emmanuel a 23-19 advantage, but a pair of JWU kills from Kyle Eva (Charlestown, R.I.) brought the spread to 24-21. Cockerill would end it on another smash for a 25-21 set one final.

Set two was hotly contested in the early going with four ties, before a right-side kill from Wingard gave EC a 10-9 edge.  A pair of kills from Wingard put the hosts up 16-13 and forced a Wildcat timeout. The timeout was not enough to silence Wingard, who then rattled off four-straight slams, forcing another JWU timeout with the Wildcats trailing 20-15.  An assisted block by Dias and Kanila Chang (Orlando, Fla.) set the score at 23-20 and forced Emmanuel to call a timeout.  The Saints held set-point twice before a Jackson kill finished it at 25-22 and gave EC at 2-0 lead in the match.

Jackson found the floor four times in the Saints' first five points of set three to give EC an early 5-2 edge.  A huge solo block from Ryan Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) forged a tie at 9-all.  With Emmanuel trailing by one, McGarry put one down in the middle to again tie the set at 15.  A kill from Jackson and a McGarry ace brought the score to 19-18.  Emmanuel's Julian Hess (Santa Monica, Calif.) and JWU's Brendan Baker (Providence, R.I.) traded points and the set was knotted at 22-all.  It was a kill from Wingard, who also teamed up with McGarry for a block down the stretch, which forced match-point at 24-22.  Johnson & Wales ended it with an attack error and Emmanuel pulled out the 25-22 win and three-set sweep.

The Saints, who played without senior captain Zach Whitermore (Whitehall, Pa.), got a huge match from Wingard.  With his seventh double-figure kills' match of the season, Wingard also tallied five digs and three blocks, while hitting .522 on the night.

Jackson finished with nine kills, three digs and three blocks.  He will enter Thursday's semifinal match needing just nine kills for 1,000 in his collegiate career.  Cockerill chipped in with eight kills, while McGarry and Hess combined for nine assisted blocks.  Senior setter Sean Baxley (Saint James, N.Y.) dished out 31 assists in the win for the Saints.

JWU was paced by a near double-double of 13 kills and nine digs from Kennedy.  Baker added 12 kills and five digs, while Eva finished with nine kills and four digs.  Senior setter J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.) handed out a match-high 41 helpers in the effort for the Wildcats.

The Saints will now advance to take on the top-seeded Raiders at Rivier University on Thursday night in GNAC semifinal action.  In the other first round tournament match, Wentworth Institute of Technology took care of Emerson College in straight sets.  The No. 3 Leopards will now take on No. 2 Lasell College in the other semifinal match on Thursday night.