NEW YORK, N.Y. – Mount Ida College posted a flawless trip to the Big Apple on Saturday afternoon, winning both ends of a doubleheader against John Jay College and York College without dropping a set in non-conference men's volleyball action.
The Mustangs improve to 4-9 on the season and will return to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a pair of home matches this week, hosting Johnson & Wales on Monday and Albertus Magnus on Wednesday, both at 6:00 pm.
Game One: Mount Ida 3, John Jay 0
The Mustangs handled the Bloodhounds on their home court, handing them a defeat with a 25-23, 25-15, 25-23 score.
Impressive numbers for the Mustangs included a game-high 15 kills from junior Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.) and 19 digs by senior Michael McCullough (Southborough, Mass.).
The Mustangs piled up 60 digs, with Griffenkranz adding 15 himself for a double-double and James Ames (W. Hartford, Conn.) notching 17 digs to go with 7 kills.
Senior Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.) ran the Mount Ida offense with 27 assists.
The Bloodhounds got 11 kills from Jack Palleschi (Valley Stream, N.Y.), who also had two blocks, and 17 assists out of Nicholas Anderson (Bellmore, N.Y.), while Francisco Miranda (Glendale, N.Y.) added a team-high 14 digs in the loss.
Game Two: Mount Ida 3, York 0
Mount Ida kept their momentum going by handing the Cardinal (3-7) their third straight loss by finals of 25-20, 25-14, and 25-14.
The Mustangs hit .330 for the match, including an impressive .455 clip in the second set, in which they made no errors and tallied 10 kills.
Ames posted a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs, as well as a game-high eight service aces, while freshman TJ Nicholas (Shelton, Conn.) and Griffenkranz each posted eight kills, with Griffenkranz adding 11 more digs to his resume.
First year Brett Southworth (Orange, Conn.) hit on seven kills without making an error to hit .538 for the game.
The Cardinal got most of their offensive power from Jonathan Liao (Kolkata, India), who had 11 kills, 19 assists, and seven digs, as well as Akeem George (Anguilla, West Indies), who added seven kills in defeat. Manprit Singh (Punjab, India) led the squad with 14 digs defensively.