No. 11 Men’s Volleyball Tops No. 15 Elms, Falls To Vassar In Saturday Tri-Match

BEVERLY, Mass. – The No. 11 nationally ranked Endicott men's volleyball team split a tri-match against No. 15 Elms and Vassar on Saturday evening at MacDonald Gymnasium. In their first match of the day, the Gulls defeated Elms, 3-1, by scores of 22-25, 29-27, 25-20, and 25-23, but fell to Vassar in the nightcap, 3-0 by scores of 25-22, 25-17, and 25-19.

NO. 11 ENDICOTT 3, NO. 15 ELMS 1 (22-25, 29-27, 25-20, 25-23)

Down 1-0 in the match and trailing 24-20 in set two, Endicott closed out the set on a 9-3 run that allowed the Gulls to even up the scoreboard and seize all momentum in the contest.

From there, the Gulls compiled set-highs in kills (14) and hitting percentage (.387) in set three and bounced back from an 18-14 deficit in set four via seven kills, one service ace, two blocks, and an Elms service error to come away with the victory.

Bryn Lipton (Rockford, Ill.) led the charge in set four with the Gulls down 18-14 via three kills and a service ace. Donovan Dey (Fairport, N.Y.), Jeremy Doski (Sandy Hook, Conn.), Seth Braquet (Destrehan, La.), and Erich Roman (Glastonbury, Conn.) also contributed one kill apiece.

Meanwhile, Braquet and Doski had a flair for the dramatic when it mattered most as Braquet hammered home a kill to give Endicott a 24-23 lead and later finished off the match in emphatic fashion with a block off the right pin alongside Doski that erupted the crowd into a frenzy and saw the Gulls' bench storm the court.

Lipton finished the match with a team-high 19 kills (.300), two service aces, five digs, and two block assists. Doski added seven kills, 20 assists, five digs, and three block assists, while Dey had six kills and four block assists.

Chad Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.) facilitated the majority of the offense via a team-high 24 assists. Defensively, Ryan Healy (Fair Lawn, N.J.) also logged a match-high and season-high 16 digs.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Braquet played a major role in the comeback, especially on serve-receive, as evidenced by his perfect 19-for-19 showing in that category as well as his 6-for-19 performance on receptions that led directly to kills (.316).
• Healy also highlighted the serve-receive efforts for Endicott as the senior libero went 21-for-21.
• Endicott is 33-4 all-time against Elms.
• Today's match featured 26 ties and seven lead changes.
• The fourth set alone had nine ties and four lead changes (both match-highs).

VASSAR 3, NO. 11 ENDICOTT 0 (25-, 25-17, 25-19)

Braquet paced Endicott in the loss with a team-high nine kills (.350) and six digs.

Dey also chipped in with seven kills, while Riorden and Devin Racey (Voorheesville, N.Y.) ran the offense on 14 and eight assists, respectively.

Meanwhile, Healy produced another double-digit dig effort with 11 total.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 11 Endicott (11-3, 4-0 NECC) travels to Dean College on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 PM. 

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(Photo credit - David Le '10)