Friday, January 25, 2013 (Utica, New York) - The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team dropped their season opener Friday evening in the first round of the season kick-off tournament against host State University of New York (SUNY) Institute of Technology in a wire-to-wire thriller falling 3-2 by scores of 21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 19-25 and 13-15 in Utica, New York.
Mount Ida was led by a game-high 16 kills on 26 attempts with an impressive .577 hitting percentage with only one error from freshman middle hitter Justin Rhoden (Corona, CA/Corona Centennial) adding two block assists in the loss. Senior outside hitter Spencer Hastings (Orlando, FL/Timber Creak) added 15 kills, two solo blocks and eight digs while freshman outside hitter Jadon Jahnsen Tuiolosega (Hemet, CA/West Valley) notched 11 kills on six attempts. Freshman setter Brady Rodriguez (Orlando, FL/Bishop Moore) distributed a game-high 44 assists respectively.
The Mustangs would go on to face visiting Emerson College at 8:00 p.m. Friday evening falling 3-0 in straight sets by very tight scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-22 for their second loss on the day closing out an 0-2 evening. Although the Lions are a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe of Mount Ida, the match did not count again league standings due to tournament play.
Hastings would go on to lead the Mustangs with 21 kills on 43 attempts while Rhoden and freshman opposite hitter James Ames (West Hartford, CT/Conard) recorded seven kills each. Brady had another strong outing setting the ball up for his squad dishing out 38 assists also adding 13 digs.
Mount Ida would capture their first win of the 2013 season under the direction of second year Head Coach Craig Martin with a 3-0 sweep victory over visiting Wells College by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-18.
Again, the Mustangs were led offensively by Hastings with 19 kills on 33 attempts tallying four solo blocks as well. Hastings and fellow senior libero Ricky Oliveira (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford) notched five digs each while Rodriguez had another impressive game with 29 assists. Rhoden would record six kills on 14 attempts respectively.
To round out the tournament, Mount Ida finished Saturday's action with their second win (3-1) of the season against visiting Bard College by scores of 27-25, 18-25, 25-16 and 25-12 surpassing 2012's win total (1) in the process.
The Mustangs, who would eventually captured a Silver bracket championship during the tournament, left the SUNY-IT invitational with an even .500 record standing at 2-2 overall and have yet to compete in a GNAC contest.
For the third match in a row, Hastings would lead Mount Ida with 24 kills on 42 attempt with only seven errors good for a .405 hitting percentage. Rhoden was sufficient as well with 11 kills on 23 attempts with only four errors. Both Hastings and Rhoden each added two solo blocks and two block assists in the match. Rodriguez again was solid distributing the ball with 43 assists also adding a team-high eight digs and two solo blocks.
The Mustangs, who have this coming week off, will re-start action on February 4th, 2013 traveling to non-conference Lesley University for an 8:00 p.m. Monday match.