#15 MIT TOO STRONG FOR MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

THE BASICS:

- Score: No. 15 MIT 3, Emmanuel College 0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-21)

- Records: No. 15 MIT (7-0); Emmanuel College (2-6)

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)

- The Lead: Behind a season-high 13 kills from senior Tavish Smith (Laguna Beach, Calif.), the No. 15 MIT men's volleyball team improved to 7-0 with a three-set sweep of Emmanuel College on Tuesday evening inside Rockwell Cage as the Engineers defeated the Saints by set scores of 25-15, 25-15, 25-21.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Behind four successful serves from Smith to start the game, the nationally-ranked Engineers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. The opening spurt featured two kills from freshman Andrew Callahan (Western Springs, Ill.) and one kill via senior Andrew Hall (Lynnfield, Mass.) as well as an error by the Saints. Emmanuel was able to tie the game at 5-5, but MIT then went on a 14-3 run to take the lead back at 19-8. During the outburst of points for MIT, the Engineers got three kills by Smith, two by junior Skyler Kaufman (Needham, Mass.), two by Callahan and one by freshman Nathan Wang (Saratoga, Calif.) as well as service aces via Kaufman and Callahan. Smith's fourth kill of the opening set gave MIT the 25-15 victory.

- MIT led from start to finish of the second set as the Engineers took it by a duplicate 25-15 score. Back-to-back kills by Hall and Wang opened the middle set which gave MIT a 9-4 lead. Both teams traded points until MIT was ahead by a 19-12 score. Three straight kills by Callahan, junior Parker Hall (Lomita, Calif.) and Smith extended MIT's lead to 22-12 before a kill by junior Yize Dong (Moraga, Calif.) and two errors by Emmanuel gave MIT a 2-0 lead with a 25-15 set two win.

- Emmanuel took its first lead of the match as the Saints led 2-0 early in the third before MIT regained the lead at 3-2 after a service ace via freshman Evan Pasko (San Diego, Calif.). The third set saw seven lead changes with the last one coming at 11-11. The visiting Saints took their lead back late in the set, 20-18, after two kills by Kevin Orsley, but the Engineers answered and secured the three-set sweep by scoring seven of the final eight points to win 25-21. The final push featured two kills from Smith, a service ace and a kill by Dong and a kill via Hall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- MIT hit .238 as a team, which included a clip of .303 in the first set and .344 in the third. Additionally, Hall (1-for-1) and Kaufman (5-for-5) were had perfect hitting percentages for the Engineers.

- Smith totaled a season-high 13 kills and added six digs and three block-assists, while Callahan swung for seven kills and dug the ball eight times. Additionally, Dong tallied a match-high 26 assists to go along with three kills, two service aces, five digs and two block-assists, while sophomore Thomas Nelson (San Ramon, Calif.) tallied a team-high ten digs.

- Emmanuel was paced by Orsley, who had eight kills, while Erik English added seven kills and a match-high 11 digs for the visiting Saints. Seamus McDonagh totaled 25 assists and five digs as well for Emmanuel.

- In the all-time series with Emmanuel, which dates back to 2003, MIT now holds a 21-6 advantage after defeating the Saints for the second time this season.

- MIT is out to its best start to a season at 7-0 since the 2011 campaign. That season the Engineers also started 7-0 and finished the year with 29 victories.

UP NEXT:

- MIT opens United Volleyball Conference (UVC) play this weekend as the Engineers host the first crossover of the season. On Saturday, MIT will play Nazareth College at 4:00 p.m. and on Sunday, the Engineers will host St. John Fisher College at 1:00 p.m.

- Emmanuel is also back in action this weekend, facing Wentworth and Eastern Nazarene on Saturday down the street at the WIT gymnasium. The match vs. the Leopards is slated to begin at 11:00 AM and is the opening Great Northeast Athletic Conference affair for the Saints.