In the final match of the Bard College Tournament this Saturday in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York the Mount Ida College men's volleyball team dropped a 3-2 loss to Purchase College (SUNY) by scores of 30-25, 21-30, 24-30, 30-25, and 20-18 in a very tight match that went down to the wire. The Mustangs drop to 5-11 overall and remain 2-5 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) division in the Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA).
It was back and forth the entire match with multiple lead changes. Mount Ida took game one from Purchase by a score of 30-25. They would eventually drop the next two by scores of 21-30 and 24-30 going down 2-1 in the match. They crawled back to knot things up at 2-2 taking game four 30-25.
Game five was very competitive with the Mustangs leading 8-4 at the switch and remained ahead up 11-7 following a Purchase timeout. Mount Ida gave up four straight points letting Purchase tie things up at 11-11. After a couple of consecutive points by Purchase, the Mustangs came charging back to knot the score at 14-14. Mount Ida had nothing left in the tank at this point dropping game five 20-18 and losing the match 3-2.
Sophomore middle blocker Thomas Belton (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) had a team high 18 kills and seven digs. Senior captain Bryan McMenamin (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) hammered 16 kills of his own along with 14 digs and three service aces. Sophomore setter Gary Alvarez (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) dished out 47 assists and added one solo block.
McMenamin was named to the Bard College All-Tournament team as well.
The Mustangs will travel to downtown Boston, Massachusetts this Tuesday for GNAC division action against hosting Emerson College starting at 7:00 p.m.