NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team fell to the Wildcats of Johnson and Wales University on Friday evening at Mount Ida Athletic Center by a final score of 3-0.
With scores of (10-25, 20-25, 7-25), the Mustangs suffer their sixth Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) setback, while they drop to 6-15 overall. The 4th seeded Wildcats improve 4-3 in the conference and 12-11 outside of league play.
The Mustangs were led offensively by James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.) who tallied nine kills on 29 total attempts while grabbing eight digs. Freshman middle hitter TJ Nicholas (Shelton, Conn.) totaled four kills to go along with seven kills. Teammate Brett Southworth (Orange, Conn.) recorded three kills and three digs the GNAC contest. Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Illinois) led all players in the game with 15 assists.
The Wildcats had two players who each tallied five kills apiece in Kanila Chang (Orlando, Fla.) and Cameron Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) while Chang also notched a game high nine digs. Kyle MacKnight (East Northport, N.Y.) tallied six digs in the GNAC clash while also tallying one assist. Jason Rhee (Aurora, Colo.) led all Wildcats with 11 assists.
In set one, the Wildcats held the slim three point lead at 10-7 after a James kill that cut into the visitor's advantage. JWU scored the next five points in the game while extending their lead to eight at 15-7. After another Ames kill, the Wildcats once again tallied the next five points while going up 20-8. Kyle Eva (Charlestown, R.I.) committed a service error before going on a 5-0 run to end set one, 25-10.
Set two, both teams were neck in neck at 12-10 after a Chang service error that brought Mount Ida back within two. JWU would hold the slim lead throughout the next several points but never saw their lead extend more than four points as the Mustangs kept it close. At 23-19, in JWU's favor, Ames recorded yet another kill which brought the hosts back to within three at 23-20. JWU would tally the next two points and take the set, 25-20.
Johnson and Wales started the third set of the game on a 17-4 run in which the Mustangs couldn't respond. The Mustangs mustered three more points in the set off a Rhee service error, Kill by Southworth, and an attack error by JWU's Jackson Steigerwald (Penfield, N.Y.). The Wildcats scored the next three points and the contest en route to the 25-7 set three win.
The Mustangs will be back in action in under twenty-four hours as they play host to the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology at 12:00 PM. JWU is back in action next Tuesday evening when they also host the Leopards with action slated to begin at 7:00 PM.