Monday, February 11, 2013 (Newton, Massachusetts) - To open 2013 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action, the Mount Ida College men's volleyball team yielded a 3-0 loss to visiting Johnson & Wales University Monday evening in Newton, Massachusetts falling by scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-12. After a very competitive opening frame with the Wildcats winning by a slim margin (25-22), the Mustangs were unable to keep pace in the final two games surrendering to the sweep. Mount Ida struggled on the attack recording negative hitting percentages in the last two sets (-.150/-.267) and was unable to tally a service ace for the contest with eight errors.
The hosts drop their second straight loss of the season slumping to an overall record of 3-4 still searching for their first league victory (0-1). Johnson & Wales sits towards the top of the GNAC standings (2-1) improving to 3-1 for the year.
Senior outside hitter Spencer Hastings (Orlando, FL/Timber Creak) led Mount Ida with five kills on 18 attempts adding seven digs. Freshman libero Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, IL/DeKalb) notched a team-high 10 digs while fellow rookie and setter Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, FL/Bishop Moore) dished out 14 assists. Junior outside hitter Nick Melillo (North Haven, CT/North Haven) added three solo blocks and two kills respectively.
For the visitors, junior middle blocker Dan Struebing (Coventry, RI/Coventry) hammered a game-high 11 kills on 17 attempts with only two errors adding five solo blocks for the night. Sophomore setter J.J. Bessette (Coventry, RI/Hendricken (RI)) led the match with 22 assists while junior Shawn Kennedy (West Barnstable, MA/Barnstable) added 11 digs.
No more than a handful of points separated the opening of game one with JWU holding an 8-4 advantage following a Struebing kill. The score was knotted up three times throughout the next couple of rallies with the hosts stymieing the action at 11-11 after a Rhoden kill. No more than a point separated the sides with the visitors holding a 20-19 lead after a service error by Mount Ida. The Wildcat offense shut down the Mustangs scoring five out of the final seven points to capture a 25-22 game one win up 1-0 in the match.
The hosts fell behind early in game two trailing 8-3 after another Struebing kill. Mount Ida cut the visiting advantage down to four points (12-8) following a service error by Johnson & Wales. The Wildcats would finish off a 13-8 run, with the final point coming off a junior Dan Davison (Howell, NJ/Asbury Park Press) exclamation point service ace, to capture a 25-16 victory sealing up a 2-0 lead for the match.
Starting game three with an 11-2 run, the visitors breezed through the last set to solidify the 3-0 GNAC victory winning 25-12 to finalize the match.
Mount Ida will travel to non-conference Daniel Webster College Thursday evening starting at 7:00 p.m. while the Wildcats will host Rivier University Wednesday night in league action with game time slated for 7:00 p.m. as well.