No. 1 Nazareth Knocks Lasers out of NECVA Tournament

Hoboken, NJ-  The No. 16 seeded Lasell College men's volleyball team played even with No. 1 Nazareth  through two sets before the Golden Flyers amped it up to take a 3-1 edge over the Lasers and advance to the quarter finals.   Lasell (22-15) was dropped out of the single-elimination tournament after the first round by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 25-14, 25-15.   

Spencer Parker (Newington, CT) put away the first kill of the match on a set by Andrew Glenn (Westport, CT).  The Lasers and the Golden Flyers battled through five ties in the score during the opening 10 points before Nazareth got a hold of a three point edge, 10-7. 

Lasell rallied for a comeback, never falling behind by more than three points in the set, and eventually knotted the score at 22-all on a kill by Micah Aiu (Honolulu, HI).  An attack error on Nazareth gave the Lasers their first lead since a 5-4 edge in the early onset, but  a kill by Will Siwy (Derby, NY) and a service ace by Robert Kraft (Waretown, NJ) allowed the Gold Flyers to reach game-point.  A Laser miscue sealed game one, 25-23, in advantage of Nazareth.

The Lasers were disciplined in game two, yielding the opposite outcome of the first.  Parker, Harry Strobel (Westport, CT), and Mike Harrington (Billerica, MA) each scored four points on their attack and Alex Mill (Danville, NH), Parker, and Aiu collected three digs apiece.  Glenn accumulated 10 assists in the set.

A 3-0 lead opened things up for Lasell to form an advantage they would not lose throughout the set.  The Lasers went ahead as much as 16-10 after back-to-back kills by Harrington but the Flyers rallied to bring about a 20-all tie down the stretch.  The score leveled out three more times before the Lasers earned game point on a Glenn kill and a Harrington tally won the game.

Nazareth responded to pull ahead early in both of the final two sets and to win convincingly in both games and win the match. 

Parker finished the contest with a team-best 16 kills, Mill followed with nine and Strobel added eight.  The Lasers defense was distributed over five primary passers leaving Mill with a team-high seven digs, Strobel and Aiu with six each, and Parker and Chris Burns (Chelmsford, MA) with five each. 

Glenn amassed 36 assists while directing the Lasers attack, adding three kills and two digs in the defeat.

The Lasers season will continue next weekend as they travel to Endicott College on Saturday, April 9^th for the 2011 ECAC Division III New England Tournament.  Seedings have yet to be determined for the tournament.