NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team opened a season ending tri-match on Saturday afternoon in the Mount Ida Athletic Center against the Wildcats of Johnson and Wales and the Saints of Emmanuel College.
Mount Ida suffered a 3-1 defeat in the opening match before match two saw Emmanuel beat JWU 3-1. In the final game of the afternoon Emmanuel defeated the host Mustangs by a final of 3-1.
Before the opening match against the Wildcats, the Mount Ida College Athletic Department and men's volleyball staff celebrated the one year career of senior Kalyn Smithson (Vilseck, Germany). Smithson, also a member of the Mount Ida football team, was a key member to this year's men's volleyball program as his hard work and dedication to the program helped him pick up the game of volleyball in just one season.
Game 1: Johnson and Wales 3, Mount Ida 1
Johnson and Wales, 20-10 (8-6 GNAC) collected their second victory of the season over Mount Ida; following up a 3-0 win back on February 11th.
The Wildcats started the match strong with a 25-12 victory in the first set, and then took a close second set win 25-22. The third set saw Mount Ida climb back into the thick of things, winning by a final score 25-19. JWU claimed the GNAC victory by winning the 4th set by a final 25-19.
Mount Ida was paced by James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.) with 12 kills and one service ace, while teammate Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.) had 10 kills and one service ace. Dennis Miranda (Havana, Cuba) led the Mustangs with two service aces.
Michael McCullough (Southborough, Mass.) recorded 29 assists and tallied one kill for the Mustangs. Ames had a team high 11 digs for the hosts.
JWU was paced by Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) with 11 kills and 18 assists from J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.). Rakeem Malone (St. Thomas, USVI) recorded 14 assists in the win for JWU.
Game 2: Emmanuel 3, Johnson and Wales 1
The Saints came out firing in the first two sets winning by scores of 25-16 and 25-19 before JWU took the third set, 25-21. Emmanuel closed out the Wildcats in game four by a slim margin of 27-25.
Austin Cockerill (Darien, Conn.) led the way offensively for the Saints, recording 47 assists and collecting 10 digs. Barrett Wingard (York, Pa.) tallied 20 kills and six digs while teammate Ashanti Jackson (Sacramento, Calif.) recorded 17 kills, two service aces and four digs.
Bessette added to his assist total in the middle match of the day by also tallying a game high 47 assists while picking up six digs. Ryan Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) tallied 15 kills while teammates Don Dias (Scituate, R.I.) and Kyle Eva (Charlestown, R.I.) padded 12 and 13 kills respectively in thr3 3-1 setback.
Game 3: Emmanuel 3, Mount Ida 1
The Mustangs kept things tight in the final match of the day but fell to the Saints by final scores of 19-25, 25-16, 16-25, and 14-25.
In his final game in a Mustang uniform, Smithson tallied a team high 8 kills along with Ames while the two also combined for 14 digs. Mat Pils (Monroe, Ct.) recorded 7 kills on 22 attempts while recording one dig in the frame. McCullough led the way for the Mustangs again with 28 assists and five digs.
Sean Baxley (Saint James, N.Y.) paced the Saints with 28 kills and 7 digs while teammate Cody Diehl (Derry, N.H.) led all players with 12 digs. Cockerill added nine kills while fellow Saints Wingard and Jackson each tallied 7 apiece in the 3-1 victory to end the regular season.