BROOKLINE, MA -- Lesley fell to first place Newbury College, 3-0 (17-25, 18-25, 19-25), and to Southern Vermont, 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 18-25, 25-27), in Saturday's New England Collegiate Conference men's volleyball tri-match hosted by Newbury at Hellenic College.
Stephen Siragusa totaled 53 set assists on the day, 21 of them coming in the first match of the day against Newbury. One match after setting Lesley's single-season digs record with 140, freshman William Lau tied with senior Zachary Almeida-Beers for the team lead with six. Christian Domingo led the Lesley offense with seven kills on 21 attempts for a .190 hitting percentage, but Newbury's attack was too strong for the Lynx, accumulating a .375 team hitting percentage in taking all three sets.
Chris Espinola was nearly perfect, throwing down eight kills with no errors on 11 attempts for the Nighthawks, good for a match-best .727 hitting percentage. Newbury's Michael Biuso led all players with 11 digs as the first-place Nighthawks improved to 21-9 and 8-0 in NECC play.
The Lynx appeared to turn their fate around to open the second match, jumping out to a 10-3 lead over Southern Vermont thanks to seven straight points with junior Beau Morimando serving. A kill and three straight service aces from Almeida-Beers put the Lynx up 19-12, and Domingo's fourth kill of the set capped Lesley's 25-17 victory.
Domingo led a Lynx attack that hit .423 in the opening set, committing only four errors as a team. Lesley made 16 errors over the next two sets, hitting only .031 and -.083, respectively, as the Mountaineers jumped out to a 2-1 match lead.
Looking to tie the match in the fourth set, the Lynx jumped out to a 4-1 lead, again with Morimando at serve. Southern Vermont countered with three straight points off Neel Patel serves to tie the contest at 7-7. Lesley regained a three-point lead, 12-9, on an Anthony Barahona attack error and looked poised to tie the match after taking its largest lead of the game, 18-14, after a Brian Diah kill.
The Mountaineers, though, countered by scoring eight of the set's last 10 points, capitalizing on back-to-back Lynx errors with the game tied 25-25. Barahona led all players with 23 kills on 48 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage, and Anthony Ayala orchestrated the Southern Vermont (3-17) offense with 40 set assists.
Senior Tyler Reeves led the Lynx defense with 19 digs and Lau added 16 in the loss. Domingo threw down 13 kills and Almeida-Beers added 11 as the Lynx fell to 1-23.
Lesley will honor its three seniors, Almeida-Beers, Reeves and Siragusa on Tueday's Senior Night match at home against Regis College at 8 p.m.