SAINTS SWEEP DAY 1 OF JWU INVITATIONAL

BOSTON, Mass. - The Emmanuel College men's volleyball team swept the first pair of games at the JWU Invitational on Friday in Providence, R.I., defeating Bard College (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) and York College (25-13, 25-16, 25-22) by 3-0 scores. 

With the pair of wins, the Saints improve to 9-8 on the year, while Bard and York fell to 3-18 and 9-12, respectively.

MATCH 1

Senior Barrett Wingard led the way for EC in the first match of the day as he put down 13 kills and added nine digs. 

The Saints broke away from a back-and-forth first set when a kill by Erik English sparked a 6-0 run and opened up a 19-12 lead. A brief rally by Bard pulled the Raptors within three at 21-18, but the Saints closed the set with two Wingard kills, an English kill, and an attack error by Bard's Alex Adams.

In the middle frame, Emmanuel made another run, but this time it came much later in the set. The Raptors held a 20-18 lead before an English kill and an Adams attack error evened the score at 20. From there, two kills and three attack errors pushed the set in EC's favor, as they closed it out at 25-21.

Bard ran out of gas in the third set and the Saints took advantage of it, earning the win with a dominant 25-15 performance. Emmanuel never trailed in the set and took full control after a 5-0 run led to a 13-5 edge. English and Drew Jordan started the run with two kills and then three attack errors by Bard finished it off. 

The Raptors only posted a .045 hitting percentage, compared to Emmanuel's .238. 

Jorge Rojas dished out 34 assists, while English and Jordan both posted 10 digs each and combined for 17 kills.

For the Raptors, Alex Adams paced his team with 10 kills and picked up four digs. Jesse Smallcontributed seven kills and eight digs. Kai Bernier-Chen had 13 assists and six digs, while Mahir Sheikhhad 10 assists and four digs. Tyler Zowaski led his team with 13 digs.

MATCH 2

The second match was similar to the first, in that the Saints were in total control from start to finish and won in three sets. 

English was the key on the attack in match two, as he knocked down 10 winners and posted a .294 attack percentage, along with six aces.

York kept it close early on, at 6-6, but two English kills, combined with a kill and two aces by Kevin Orsley, put the Saints ahead 11-6. York would draw to 12-8, but the Saints scored the next four points and never looked back, taking the first set at 25-13 on an ace by English.

Another huge run turned the tables in the second set for the Saints, who were locked in a 4-4 tie before scoring 10 of the next 11 points to open up a 14-5 lead. The Cardinals battled back late in the set and trailed by five, 21-16, but English posted two more aces to help close the set. 

The final set was the closest of the three in the match, but the Saints never trailed and were very much in control through the entire frame, winning 25-22.

Jorge Rojas and Andres Saladrigas had 18 and 16 assists, respectively.

The Saints posted a .365 percentage, compared to the .145 posted by the Cardinals. EC had 37 assists and 18 digs, while York had 24 and 18 to their credit.

The Saints return to the court tomorrow to take on Lesley and New Jersey City in day two of the JWU Invitational. The matches are scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.