CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Endicott College rolled to a 3-0 (25-5, 25-9, 25-16) win over Lesley University tonight in New England Collegiate Conference men's volleyball action at the Nicholas Athletics Center. The win marks the fourth in a row for the Gulls as they improve to 5-6 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in NECC play. The setback drops the 0-10 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
Gulls sophomore Ryan Sutherland (Fairport, N.Y.) and junior Daniel Toth (Vernon, N.J.) both slammed home a match-high six kills while junior Chandler Tayek (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) and sophomore Tyler Willgoos (Newington, Conn.) each added five. Toth was a perfect six-of-six from the floor, compiling a 1.000 hitting percentage on the evening, and also turned in a stellar effort on the defensive side of the net as he was credited with one solo block and four blocking assists. Senior Kristian Catalan (Sudbury, Mass.) led Endicott with nine digs.
Lesley sophomore Tyler Burns (Newton, Pa.) led the Lynx with five kills while junior Jess Cherry (Lancaster, Pa.) and C. Jay Sutton (Billerica, Mass.) each finished with a pair of kills. Cherry also added a match-high ten digs to his line on the night.
After trailing 3-1 to open up the first set, the Lynx would work back to knot the score at 4-4 following a Burns kill from the left side. A Toth slam paired with a Lesley attacking error gave the visitors a two-point edge before an Endicott service error pulled the Lynx back to within one, 6-5. From there, it was all Gulls as junior Dan Seaver (Milford, Mass.) led them on a ferocious 19-0 run to close out the first 25-5. Seaver served to 18 straight Endicott points while Toth and junior John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) combined for six kills on the streak.
The Gulls continued that momentum into the second set as they sprinted to an 11-2 advantage and never looked back as they rolled to the 25-9 set victory. Sutherland and Endicott senior Billy Mullen (Weymouth, Mass.) led the charge as they finished with three kills apiece in the set.
The Lynx started to gain some momentum early-on in the third as a Burns kill capped a 5-2 spurt to open the set. The Gulls would work quickly to knot the game at 5-5. The teams would exchange points and with the score tied at 8-8, the Lynx would score three of the next four points to stake an 11-9 edge. But once again, Endicott would use a large run to take control. Led by the service of freshman Amar Patel (Keene, N.H.) the Gulls scored 11 straight points to claim a 20-9 lead before rolling to the 25-16 set win to sweep the match 3-0.
The Lynx will have a week off and return to action Saturday, February 28th when they travel to Mount Ida College for a tri-match with the Mustangs and the Cannonballs of the Pratt Institute (N.Y.). The Gulls are back at it on Wednesday, February 25th as they play host to the No. 11 MIT Engineers.