Thursday, February 14, 2013 (Nashua, New Hampshire) - Mount Ida College senior outside hitter and Captain Spencer Hastings (Orlando, FL/Timber Creak) hammered a match-high 20 kills and six digs with the Mustangs dropping their third loss in a row to host Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire Thursday evening falling 3-1 by set scores of 18-25, 16-25, 25-20 and 14-25.
MIC slumps to an overall record of 3-5 and hold at a 0-1 record in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play while the Eagles improve to 2-4 for the year with their first New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) match-up coming Saturday at Newbury College in a tri-match with visiting Albertus Magnus College. The Mustangs will travel to non-league Regis College (MA) the same afternoon to face the Pride starting at 11:00 a.m. in a tri-match as well.
Along with Hastings, freshman middle hitter Justin Rhoden (Corona, CA/Corona Centennial) notched seven kills while fellow freshman and setter Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, FL/Bishop Moore) dished out 32 assists.
Sophomore Joel Hendrix (Kane'ohe, HI) knocked down 17 kills and added a match-high five service aces and seven digs and junior Joe Walz (E. Longmeadow, MA) added nine kills leading Daniel Webster for the evening.
Hendrix hit .538 committing just three errors on 26 chances and both Jose Vargas (Lawrence, MA) and Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, AK) added six kills apiece as the Eagles improved to 2-4 overall. Ariel Frias (Lawrence, NH) handed out 22 assists while Kyle Clement (Weymouth, MA) chipped in with 10.
DWC hit .337 on the night compared to .111 for Mount Ida and finished with overall advantages in kills (46-34), assists (38-34), aces (8-6), digs (34-28) and total blocks (11-8).
DWC never trailed in the opening set and saw only two ties as the Eagles hit .148 and limited the Mustangs to -.074. Hendrix led DWC with three kills in the set while Hastings has three for Mount Ida.
The Eagles hit .333 in the second power by four kills and four aces from Hendrix while Hastings countered with four kills for the Mustangs. The teams were tied at 11 but DWC would close the set on a 14-5 tear ending on a Walz kill.
Mount Ida bounced back in the third as both teams enjoyed strong attacks. The Mustangs hit .500 to .435 for DWC with Hastings powering four kills and Hendrix answering with four. DWC led 8-4 early but the Mustangs took control with a pivotal 7-1 run and took the lead for good on Hastings kill for a 10-9 lead and never led the Eagles closer than three down the stretch.
DWC dominated the fourth set, hitting .458 and never trailed. Hendrix saves his best for last downing six kills with no errors in even attempts while Walz added three. DWC never let the Mustangs closer than three points in the set and closed out on a 6-2 run ending with Hendrix's final kill of the night.