CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University men's volleyball saw their Senior Night spoiled by Elms College, as the Blazers came out on top of three tightly played sets to score a 3-0 victory in New England Collegiate Conference play tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center. Elms used narrow set scores of 25-23, 25-21, and 25-19 and improve to 12-14 on the season and 4-6 in NECC matches. The Lynx fall to 0-16 overall and 0-7 in conference play.
Prior to the match the Lynx honored C.Jay Sutton (Billerica, Mass.), Chris Barletta (Valrico, Fla.), and junior Tyler Burns (Newtown, Pa.) – who will be graduating a semester early in December 2016 – for all their contributions to the Lesley Athletics program.
The Lynx swung a season-high .211 on the night as Barletta and Burns led the offensive charge with nine kills apiece while hitting .250 and .231, respectively. Burns added a team-best eight digs and three service aces on the night and chipped in on a pair of blocks. Junior Jacob DiDomenico (North Providence, R.I.) added six kills and was a force at the net, sending back four solo blocks to go along with three block assists. Fellow junior Pierre St. Simon (Farmingdale, N.Y.) also added a pair of solo blocks, helping the Lynx set a season-high total of 12 in the match. Freshman setter Karuna Chiemruom (Cranston, R.I.) set a new career-high in assists for the second consecutive game with 21.
Elms senior Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) led all players with 13 kills while sophomore Daniel Bondarovsky (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) recorded a double-double with 12 kills and a match-best 12 digs for the visitors. Senior Jamaal Gary (Bloomfield, Conn.) finished with seven kills and sophomore Khalil Peters (Hartford, Conn.) facilitated the offense with 33 assists.
Play throughout the first set was tight. Freshman Jequan Rogers (Springfield, Mass.) knocked down a kill off a feed from Peters to give the Blazers a 21-17 edge late before the Lynx rallied quickly with three straight points ignited by a Jason Hulteen (Galena, Ohio) slam to pull within one. After a Castro kill to push the Blazers lead back to two, 22-20, an Elms error paired with a DiDomenico kill knotted the set at 22-22. The teams would exchange points to further the tie before Elms earned a 1-0 match lead with back-to-back points to take the first 25-23.
Second set play mirrored the first set as it was a back-and-forth affair until the end. Consecutive kills from Burns and Barletta gave the hosts a 22-21 lead late in the set before the Blazers would string together four straight points to stake a 2-0 match advantage with a 25-21 set victory.
The Blazers jumped out to a 9-4 edge early on in the third set, but the Lynx would go on a 10-6 run, capped by a Barletta slam, to come within one, 15-14. Later in the set, a kill from Lesley junior Devon Mayo (Newport News, Va.) made it a two-point game, 21-19, but the Blazers would rally once again with four straight points to take the set 25-19 and the match 3-0.
The Lynx will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Newbury College at 7:00p. The Blazers, who wrapped up their regular season tonight, will await their pairing for the NECC Tournament set to kick off on Friday, April 8th.