BENNINGTON, Vt. – The Lesley University men's volleyball team fell to Southern Vermont College, 3-0, in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, Friday evening.
SVC won the night with straight-set scores of 25-15, 25-19, and 25-15.
The Mountaineers (6-21, 3-9 NECC) now await Sunday's playoff announcement as they will likely take the No. 6 seed in the upcoming postseason tournament. Lesley (1-21, 0-11 NECC) will finish the 2017 campaign on Sunday with an 11 a.m. first serve at Regis College.
Southern Vermont sophomore Adrian Dickerson (Bristol, Vt.) and freshman Te Hayward (Baltimore, Md.) each tallied a team-high six kills in the win while adding three digs and two aces, respectively. Freshman captain Bryan Bernal (Riverside, Calif.) chalked up 16 assists, three kills and a match-best eight digs, and he also ripped across six service aces. Freshman Chris Jimenez (Newark, N.J.) registered five digs, three aces and a pair of kills on the night.
Lesley senior Jacob DiDomenico (North Providence, R.I.) notched a match-leading eight kills while tying the Lynx-high of five digs, and he also had two service aces in the effort. Junior Karuna Chiemruom (Cranston, R.I.) assisted on 15 of LU's 16 kills and added five digs defensively, and freshman Patrick Corcoran (West Hartford, Conn.) amassed five digs and a pair of kills. Senior Jason Hulteen (Galena, Ohio) had five kills and three digs against SVC.
The Mountaineers went up 6-2 early on in the contest with Bernal and Hayward each getting an ace, but kills by Hulteen, Corcoran, and sophomore John Gersbeck (Westerly, R.I.) helped the visitors make it a 10-9 edge for SVC. Southern Vermont won five of the next six with a Hayward kill, and the hosts then went on a late 6-1 surge to take a nine-point advantage. The final two points went to the Mountaineers for them to go up 1-0 in the match.
Neither side led by more than one in the second frame until Southern Vermont went in front 7-5. Three straight by Lesley made it an 8-8 game, but SVC grabbed a slight edge with kills by Hayward and Dickerson. Up just 13-12, the Mountaineers stormed to a comfortable upper hand with seven unanswered points; Jimenez had a kill and two aces during that stretch. Points were traded in the backend of the set with LU cutting it to a five-point separation, but it was not enough as Dickerson landed a final kill to give his team the 2-0 lead on the night.
Two Bernal aces and a few Lynx miscues made it a 5-1 advantage for SVC in the third set. TheMountaineers opened it up to a double-digit cushion as Hayward added another two kills, and Southern Vermont then went on a 5-1 run with another Hayward kill to go on top 20-8. Hulteen notched back-to-back kills for Lesley to grab four in-a-row—only to see the Mountaineers answer with three straight before closing out the night with the help of a Dickerson kill for the season sweep of the Lynx.
- Game story provided by Mike Nosek, Director of Sports Information - Southern Vermont College