NASHUA, N.H. – Mount Ida faced the sixth ranked team in the nation in their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's volleyball game on Thursday night, and Rivier University asserted their ranking with a 3-0 victory, by scores of 25-13, 25-23, and 25-12.
The Mustangs fall to 7-13 overall, and 1-6 in the GNAC, while Rivier, in improving to 20-5, move to 8-0 and win their 40th consecutive game in conference play.
Mount Ida was paced by sophomore James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.), who collected five kills over the three set match. Dennis Miranda (Hialeah, Fla.), Nick Schibi (Torrington, Conn.) and Nick Mellilo (north Haven, Conn.) also added four kills each in the loss.
Michael McCullough (Westborough, Mass.) had 11 assists and Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.) was the game leader with 8 digs.
Junior Matt Tutino (Manorville, NY) led the way for Rivier with 10 kills and a .692 hitting percentage.
Freshman Ian Wolski (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore Mike Hadder (Yucaipa, California) each added 7 kills and sophomore Keegan Moody (Cranston, RI) chipped in 4 kills on the evening for the Raiders.
Hadder recorded the game's highest hitting percentage with .778. Freshman Matthew Ortiz (Los Angeles, California) had 15 assists to further the offensive effort by Rivier and a trio of Raiders – senior Daniel Elitharp (Eastport, NY), sophomore Mike Hovnanian (Methuen, Mass.) and freshman Matthew LaSance (Madison, Conn.) – had 5 digs apiece.
Mount Ida is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Anna Maria for a GNAC tri-match that features the Amcats and local rival Lasell.
Rivier also has a conference tri-match on Saturday, as they head to New Haven, Connecticut to battle both Albertus Magnus College and Emmanuel College.