CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Elms College spoiled the season finale for Lesley University as the Blazers rolled to a 3-0 (25-11, 26-24, 25-14) win over the Lynx this afternoon at the Nicholas Athletics Center. With the victory, the Blazers end their season at 5-20 overall and 2-10 in the NECC while the 2015 campaign closes at 1-20 and 0-12 in the conference for the Lynx.
Despite the loss, Lesley sophomore Tyler Burns (Newtown, Pa.) eclipsed the single-season kills record for the Lynx as he slammed home six this afternoon to give him 197 on the season. The previous record of 191, which Burns tied this past Wednesday, was held by Scott Wheeler '10.
Burns added five digs and two blocking assists his line on the day while junior Chris Barletta (Valrico, Fla.) led the Lynx with seven kills. Fellow junior Jess Cherry (Lancaster, Pa.) knocked down six kills and recorded a team-best 12 digs and sophomore Mitchell Ulacco (Winchester, Mass.) dished out 18 assists.
Elms freshman Daniel Bondarovsky (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) led all players with 13 kills to go with his four digs while sophomore Qua'Sean Crowe (Stamford, Conn.) finished with nine kills on eleven attempts to register an outstanding .818 hitting percentage. Freshman Gabriel Reis Levy (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) dug out a match-high 14 balls on defense while senior Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) set up the offense with 24 assists.
The Blazers wasted little time getting their offense in gear as they sprinted out to a 25-11 first set win to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Elms hit .615 in the set as Crowe was a perfect 5-5 from the floor and Bondarovsky knocked down three kills on four swings to lead the Blazer offense.
Elms looked as if they were going to maintain control throughout the second set as the raced out to a 7-3 edge, but the Lynx clawed their way back in with a 6-0 spurt capped by a Barletta kills as the hosts took a 9-7 edge. After exchanging a pair of points, Lesley put together a 5-0 to take their biggest lead of the match at 15-10. The Blazers answered right back with a 5-0 streak of their own, due in part to a trio of Lesley errors, and the set was knotted at 15-15.
Late in the set an Elms serving error gave the Lynx a 24-23 lead, putting the hosts just one point away from tying the match at 1-1, but the Blazers fought back to score three straight points to take the 26-24 set win to go up 2-0.
The momentum from the end of the second carried right over into the third for the Blazers, as the guests rattled off 13 straight points to start the set and they never look back, rolling to the 25-14 set win to ensure the sweep.