NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 defeat to nationally ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology in non-conference men's volleyball action on Wednesday night at Mount Ida Athletic Center.
The Engineers used three straight scores of 25-13 to improve to 10-2 on the year a day after they moved up a spot to #11 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll. Mount Ida falls to 2-9 on the season.
MIT senior Chris Omahan (Mount Vernon, Ohio) led all players with 10 kills and he made no errors for a .588 hitting percentage to help his team collect a victory in the first meeting between the schools.
The Mustangs were led by a trio of players, James Ames (W. Hartford, Conn.), Dennis Miranda (Havana, Cuba) and Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.), who each tallied four kills.
The Engineers jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening set and held their advantage at five or six points for much of the game. Leading 18-12, the Engineers won seven of the next eight points, including two kills by Omahan and one by Brendan Chang (Laytonsville, Md.), who did his part in the victory by setting up 18 points from the setter position.
It was the hosts that took an early lead in set two, as Griffenkranz slammed a kill to put Mount Ida up 7-5. Sean Kropp (Fairless Hills, Pa.) helped the Engineers reclaim the advantage with a kill and then a service ace, and with the game tied at nine, the Engineers won the next five points. They closed the match with a 6-0 run, also served by Kropp, that included two kills by Omahan and three by Andrew Busse (Mount Prospect, Ill.), who racked up six kills in the match.
The Engineers made just one error in the second set, hitting .500, and attacked at a .390 clip for the entire match.
The critical juncture of the third and final set came with MIT holding a 15-10 lead. The Engineers took advantage of a service error and three straight attack errors to kick off an 8-1 run that put them on the brink of victory. Andrew Hall (Lynnfield, Mass.), Jack Serrino (Glencoe, Ill.), and Tom Leech (Meadville, Pa.) each had kills in that run, and Serrino added another kill before an attack error by the Mustangs closed out the match.
Kropp had four kills and a service ace, along with six digs, while Hall added five kills and was in on three block assists. Chang and Serino pitched in on four block assists each.
Senior Kalyn Smithson (Vilseck, Germany) added two kills, as did setter Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.), who had 14 assists and six digs for the Mustangs.
Junior Michael McCullough (Southborough, Mass.) led the Mustangs with seven digs.
Mount Ida turns around to play at home again tomorrow night when they return to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play and host rivals Lasell College at 6:00 pm.
MIT takes the weekend off and does not play again until next Wednesday, when they will travel to Endicott College for a 7:00 pm non-conference affair.