Men's Volleyball Wins Home Opener in Straight Sets over Elms

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's volleyball team improved to 2-0 in early season NECC action by defeating Elms 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-18) on Thursday in their 2015 home opener. The Gulls hit .312 as a team, got 14 kills from junior outside John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.), and a strong setting performance from junior Cameron Little (San Diego, Calif.) over the final two sets en route to their second straight victory.

Endicott (3-6, 2-0 NECC) ran their recent win streak over Elms (2-9, 0-1 NECC) to six straight matches and improved to 12-2 all-time at home against the Blazers. The Gulls are back on the court next Wednesday, February 18^th at home against NECC opponent Newbury. Elms returns home to face NECC foe Daniel Webster on Tuesday, February 17^th.

Osborne went off for 14 kills on 27 attempts with a .333 hitting percentage with nine digs, four assists, and a service ace to lead Endicott's offense that saw their efficiency progress from .200 to .361 to .409 each set. After tying his career-high with 20 kills in a win over Regis two days ago, Osborne now sports a .491 hitting percentage via 34 kills and a 5.67 kills per set average.

Thanks to 24 assists by Little in the second and third sets and another eight from freshman Troy Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.) in the opening game, Endicott was also able to distribute the ball to junior middles Daniel Toth (Vernon, N.J.) for eight kills (.294) and Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.) for another five (.417). Junior outside threat Dan Seaver (Milford, Mass.) added six kills while Little himself was able to dump four kills on the Blazers side of the court.

Defensively for the Gulls, Osborne and senior libero Kristian Catalan (Sudbury, Mass.) tied for a team-high nine digs and at the net, sophomore middle blocker Ryan Sutherland (Fairport, N.Y.) proved to be a presence on the block with three assisted stops. Seaver and Wasik each added two block assists in the win.

Elms' offense was most efficient through junior Cristian Arroyo (Chicopee, Mass.) who struck seven kills on 15 swings with just one error. Freshman outside Gabriel Reis Levy (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) led the Blazers with nine kills but struggled with nine errors. Levy did, however, factor in defensively with a match-high 11 digs and three block assists. Arroyo and sophomore middle Qua'Sean Crowe (Stamford, Conn.) each added two assisted blocks in the loss.

Blazers senior setter Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) totaled 20 set assists for the visitors to go along with five digs and a kill.