CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Lesley University men's volleyball team picked up their first victory of the season with a 3-1 victory over non-conference Dean College as they split Saturday afternoon's tri-match at Elms College. First year outside hitter Patrick Corcoran (West Hartford, Conn.) posted a season-best .316 attack percentage tallying an individual season-best nine kills on 19 attempts en route to the four set victory over Dean College.
MATCH 1: Elms 3, Lesley 0
In the first match of the afternoon, the Lynx fell to a tough New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) foe, Elms College, in three sets, 3-0. The Blazers went on the offensive in the second set, hitting an astounding .571 as a team, tallying nine kills on 14 attempts with just one error to take the 2-0 match advantage with a 25-9 win. Elms went on to claim the third game, edging out a valiant comeback attempt by the Lynx, by a score of 25-17.
Senior outside hitter Jason Hulteen (Galena, Ohio) led the way, posting a season-best .333 attack percentage, notching a team-high seven kills on 15 attempts with just two miscues while recording a solo block. Junior setter Karuna Chiemruom (Cranston, R.I.) paced the Lynx offense registering 11 kills while senior outside hitter Mykael Tucker (Taunton, Mass.) led the way with four defensive digs.
MATCH 2: Lesley 3, Dean 1
The Lynx wasted little time getting out to an hot offensive start in their second match of the afternoon. After hitting .346 as a team in a 25-15, the Lynx kept rolling posting a staggering season-best .429 attack percentage with 10 kills on 21 attempts to take the second set, 25-11 and take the two-match advantage.
However, Dean was not going away quietly. Trailing 13-11 midway through the third match, the Bulldogs continued to battle and pulled out the 25-22 victory to stay alive and cut the Lynx lead in half, 2-1. It was short-lived as the Lynx hung on to knock off the Bulldogs, 25-19, in the fourth set and earn their first victory of the season.
Senior middle hitter Jacob DiDomenico (North Providence, R.I.) led the lynx offense tallying a match-high 15 kills while Corcoran followed up with nine kills. Chiemruom paced the offense, which continues to improve each game, with a season-high 33 assists while Hulteen notched 15 defensive digs in the win.
Lesley improves to 1-13 while Dean drops to 2-12 on the season. The Lynx return to the court next Friday March 10th when they host Illinois Tech at 8:00 p.m. in Cambridge, Mass.