Season-Best Blocking Effort Helps Endicott to Win over Newbury

BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott men's volleyball bested NECC opponent Newbury 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) in a matchup of early-season 2-0 conference teams behind an eight-kill match from junior opposite Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.) and four blocks and six kills from sophomore middle Ryan Sutherland (Fairport, N.Y.). The win was Endicott's third straight victory as the Gulls improved their 2015 record to 4-6 (3-0 NECC).

Endicott plays their fourth consecutive NECC match on Friday evening, February 20^th at winless Lesley (0-8, 0-1 NECC) for an 8:00 p.m. first serve.

Newbury (3-6, 2-1 NECC) looks to rebound on Thursday when they host Lesley at 7:00 p.m. The Nighthawks and Lynx will be playing their second match against each other in a four-day stretch as Newbury beat Lesley on Monday evening in straight sets.

Wasik, Sutherland, and junior Daniel Toth (Vernon, N.J.) were all pieces to Endicott success in the middle of the court against Newbury as the trio combined to hit .483 via 18 kills on 29 swings. Wasik's eight kills were his most since a 10-kill match against the nation's second-ranked team, Kean. Six kills by Sutherland were his career-high to-date while Toth turned in a 4-0-6 line with two solo blocks and two assisted blocks.

Last week's NECC Player of the Week, Gulls junior outside John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.), led all players with 11 kills while contributing defensively with seven digs and four total blocks. Osborne also showcased a hard jump serve that generated three service aces.

Endicott junior setter Cameron Little (San Diego, Calif.) averaged 10.0 assists per set in the straight set win while adding two blocks, two digs, and one dump kill.

Senior libero Kristian Catalan (Sudbury, Mass.) recorded a match-high nine digs for the second-straight game. Catalan is averaging 2.25 digs per set in his senior campaign.

Newbury's offensive ran through senior outside Danny Tiner (Salem, N.H.) and freshman middle Wade Robidoux (Agawam, Mass.) who struck nine and eight kills, respectively, with Tiner registering seven digs and Robidoux serving up two aces in the loss.  Newbury sophomore middle Nile Fox (Hampton, Va.) had a team-high two block assists, freshman setter Michael Holihan (Northampton, Pa.) distributed 21 assists, and freshman outside Joshua Thorne (Oxford, Conn.) matched Tiner for a team-high seven digs.

As a team, Endicott hit .260 on 33 kills, 13 errors, and 77 attempts compared to -.012 by Newbury on 25 kills, 26 errors, and 86 swings. Endicott had 10 blocks on a team, four solo and six assisted. Newbury was able to stop three Gull attacks at the net. Endicott sported a .956 serve receive with Catalan suffering just one reception error in 20 attempts. Newbury averaged .908 on serve receive with junior Stephen Watson (Monterey, Calif.) coming off the bench to converted 16 passes without an error.