NEWTON, Mass. – For the second time in less than a week, Mount Ida scored a 3-0 victory over Lesley University in non-conference men's volleyball action. Tonight at the Mount Ida Athletic Center, the hosts used scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-19 to improve to 4-5 on the season, while sending Lesley to their third straight loss to start the season.
Sophomore Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, Fla.) split his duties between setting and hitting, and he led the Mustangs with five kills and 16 assists, along with six service aces. His classmate Michael McCullough (Southborough, Mass.) added ten digs and eight assists.
Lesley freshman Tyler Burns (Newtown, Pa.) led all players with ten kills and had three solo blocks for the Lynx.
The Mustangs seized control of the first game with an 8-1 run that included three kills by Rodriguez and made the score 20-11. A kill by sophomore James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.), who had four in the game, capped the ten point win in the opening set.
It wasn't until the closing moments of the second set that the Mustangs were able to gain separation, winning their final three points on errors by the Lynx, and closing the game with a block by Rodriguez, one of two solo blocks he had, to go with two block assists.
Lesley came back and held the lead for the first half of the third set, threatening to extend the match when they were ahead 8-4 and 14-12. McCullough got the Mustangs back in front by serving six straight points, including one of his two service aces, and two kills by Dakota Howell (Mesa, Ariz.) put the home team ahead 20-16, where they would stay to finish off the sweep.
Howell had four kills in the match, while Mount Ida freshman Corey Brindamour (Barrington, R.I.) had five kills without making an error.
Junior Melvin Morales (Chelsea, Mass.) added six kills for the Lynx, along with 7 digs, while Burns and senior Makenzie Lukas (Reno, Nev.) had ten digs apiece.
Lesley will return to the floor on Thursday when they travel back to Newton, Mass. as they will play at Lasell on Thursday night at 7:00 PM.