CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Newbury College freshman Tyler Sayne (Tucson, Ariz.) buried a match-high 13 kills and hit a stellar .462 for the match, leading the Nighthawks to their first victory of the season, a 3-0 victory over Lesley.
Sophomore Jake Powell (Salinas, Calif.) added eight kills for Newbury while junior setter Cody Braden (Fair Grove, Mo.) was lethal with his serve, connecting for six aces to go with his match-high 28 assists.
For the Lynx, sophomore Herbin Berreondo (Brighton, Mass.) and freshman Jess Cherry (Lancaster, Pa.) each had two kills while senior Sean Randall (Fremont, Calif.) registered a match-high 12 digs.
In the first set, the teams split the first ten points playing to a 5-5 tie before the Nighthawks would open it up with a 9-0 run. The run was fueled by Sayne, who buried two aces, and Powell who connected on three kills as Newbury rolled to a 25-10 first set victory.
The Lynx took advantage of several Nighthawk errors to open the second set and took an early 4-3 advantage. After Newbury notched it back up at 5-5, they continued to score ten of the next 11 points to take a commanding 15-6 lead. Sayne and sophomore Chi Yin Li (Framingham, Mass.) combined for three aces during the spurt. With Newbury leading 23-8, Lesley attempted a late comeback behind the service of Cherry, but it was too little too late as the Nighthawks took the second set, 25-12.
In the third set, Braden landed three aces as he led Newbury to a quick 6-0 start. After a Lesley timeout, the Lynx would score the next five points capped by a Melvin Morales (Chelsea, Mass.) kill to climb to within one. Newbury had another run in them, this time outscoring Lesley 7-0 to take a 12-5 lead. Li recorded two of his seven kills to lead the offense and Newbury to a 25-10 third set win.
Newbury totaled 14 service aces during the match and hit .235 over the three sets, including an impressive .455 mark in the opening set.
Berreondo recorded two blocks for the Lynx while freshman Chase Donley (Elizabethtown, Pa.) and Spencer Irwin (Somers, N.Y.) each had one.
Lesley returns to the court on Saturday as they travel to Elms College for a 7:00p start while Newbury will travel to Wentworth Institute of Technology on Thursday, also at 7:00p.
