CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University men's volleyball team dropped the season series to Eastern Nazarene College falling 3-0, Thursday evening. Junior outside hitter Kenny Sorensen (Quincy, Mass.) posted a .647 attack percentage tallying 11 kills on 17 attempts to lead the Lions to the victory.
Eastern Nazarene came out of the gate strong taking an early 10-3 lead on back-to-back service aces by first year outside hitter Andrew Jayne (Quincy, Mass.). The Lynx answered taking advantage of three Lion attack errors to pull themselves back to within four points but Eastern Nazarene was able to right the ship and take the first set, 25-12.
In the second set, the Lynx jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but the Lions responded with 5-0 run highlight by two aces from junior Matthew Tyree (Lansdale, Pa.) to take a 5-2 lead. Midway through the set, the Lynx cut the deficit to two points, 10-8 but Lions turned the game around with a 6-0 run to take a 16-8 lead and they never looked back.
Sorensen was nearly perfect from the floor registering six kills on seven attempts for a staggering .857 attack percentage to guide the Lions to the 25-10 second set win.
Hitting .368 as a team in the second set, Eastern Nazarene kept their foot on the accelerator. First year middle blocker Derek Fowler (Williamstown, N.J.), senior middle blocker Colin Fischer (Lansdale, Pa.) and Sorenson were all two of four from the floor to lead the Lions to the 25-9 game three victory.
Senior middle blocker Jason Hulteen (Galena, Ohio) was outstanding defensively for the Lynx leading the way with nine defensive digs while tallying a team-high five kills. Sophomore middle hitter John Gersbeck (Westerly, R.I.) and first year Patrick Corcornan (West Hartford, Conn.) followed up with two kills each. Junior setter Karuna Chiemruom (Cranston, R.I.) paced the offense with seven assists.
Fowler followed up Sorensen tallying six kills on 10 attempts while also going up for a block with junior outside hitter Andrew Shaw (Weymouth, Mass.). Shaw was next in line for the Lions tallying four kills on the night.
Lesley drops to 1-20 on the season and 0-10 in conference action while Eastern Nazarene improves to 16-9 and 5-7 in the NECC. The Lynx will return to the hard-court tomorrow night when they travel to Bennington, Vt. to face Southern Vermont College at 5:30 p.m.