CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Newbury College in New England Collegiate Conference action tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center. The Nighthawks used set scores of 25-17, 25-11, and 25-11 and hit a collective .338 to notch their first NECC victory as they improve to 3-15 overall and 1-5 in conference play. The Lynx slide to 0-7 overall and 0-5 in NECC play.
Newbury sophomore Xavier Brown-Rose (Wilbraham, Mass.) paced the visitors offensive attack with seven kills while swinging to a .750 percentage. Freshman Skyelar Whitehead (Belchertown, Mass.), junior Khalil Paige (Baltimore, Md.), and sophomore Wade Robidoux (Agawam, Mass.) each knocked down six kills and freshman setter Luis Aranda (Boyle Heights, Calif.) dished out a match-high 27 assists. Whitehead was dominant at the net for the Nighthawks, recorded five solo blocks to alongside a block assist.
Lesley junior Tyler Burns (Newton, Pa.) led the Lynx with seven kills and six digs while classmate Jacob DiDomenico (N. Providence, R.I.) slammed five kills. Senior Chris Barletta (Valrico, Fla.) notched four kills. Senior C. Jay Sutton (Billerica, Mass.) added six digs on the defensive side of the ball and freshman Karuna Chiemruom (Cranston, R.I.) finished with a team-high 11 assists. DiDomenico added a pair of solo blocks and one block assist while Barletta and Burns each recorded a solo block.
The Nighthawks held advantages in total kills (34-27), assists (28-13), service aces (9-1), digs (26-20), and total blocks (10-5).
Lesley will be off until Friday, March 11th when they travel to Johnson & Wales for the two-day JWU Invitational Tournament. The Lynx will kick off the opening day of play with matches against the Wildcats and New Jersey City at 4:00p and 6:00p, respectively. Newbury will continue their seven-game roadtrip on Saturday and head to Beverly, Mass. for a NECC tilt with Endicott College starting at 12:00p.