Senior Night Success
March 9, 2004
Endicott pushed its record forward to 16-8 overall and 13-2 in NECVA New England play, with a 3-0 win over Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a heartfelt celebration of Endicott's three graduating seniors, the Gulls started the match off strong and soared to a quick victory (30-24, 30-25, 30-27).
The Gull attack was organized by senior setter and team captain Pablo Baez. Baez finished the night with 39 assists, five digs, and three blocks. Fellow senior Craig Steszewski was the core of the Gull defense with a team-leading eight digs. Rounding out the senior class performance in the match was Brandon Ecker, who hit .429% (3k-0e/7att) playing front row in only one game.
MIT struggled with serving and could not get on any big runs, despite the offensive efforts of Rob McAndrew and Kabir Mukaddam. McAndrew led all players with kills, with 20 in 47 attempts. Mukaddam tallied 12 kills in 26 attempts. Setter Jordan Wan distributed the ball for a kill 44 times, had two solo blocks and two aces.
Endicott is now preparing for its first out-of-region spring break trip. The Gulls fly to California on Friday, for five days, to face \#3 UC-Santa Cruz, \#4 U. of LaVerne and NAIA Hope International.
The Gulls would like to take this opportunity to thank the three seniors and their families for all of their leadership, time, and effort over the past years. This effort and leadership is finally paying off for Endicott, as they have received their first ever national ranking this week by the AVCA, and are now 15th on the coach's poll.