Men's Volleyball Knocks off Albertus Magnus in GNAC Tilt

New Haven, Conn. (3/7/13) – Lasell College used 51 kills and a .228 hitting percentage to defeat the Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 25-17) in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Thursday night in New Haven. With the loss, the Falcons move to 7-5 on the year and 0-3 in league action, while the Lasers improve to 7-5 with the victory and 2-1 in GNAC play.

Dan Raffol (Natick, Mass.) posted a season-high 21 kills for Lasell, senior Alex Mill (Danville, N.H.) also finished with double figures in kills with 10. Raffol and Mill tied for the team-high in digs with 10 each, while setters Matt Dugan (New Lenox, Ill.) and Ryan Jackson (Massilon, Ohio) finished with 23 and 20 assists respectively. Lasell held a significant edge defensively at the net, tallying a combined 14 blocks to just two for the Falcons, led by Julius Rosario (Brockton, Mass.) who finished with two solo blocks and seven assisted blocks.

Albertus was led on the night by Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) with 12 kills and Chris Pfeffer (Torrington, Conn.) with nine kills in 12 attempts.

Lasell earned the first set victory after eight tied scores and three lead changes. After the Lasers took a 12-10 lead, the Falcons tied the score at 12 apiece before Lasell went on a 7-1 run to extend their lead to 19-13.  The Lasers finished the set on a 6-2 run to take a 25-17 win.

In the second set, Lasell recorded nine kills and 10 hitting errors as the Falcons took the set with a 25-20 victory. Lasell jumped out to a 9-4 lead before four-straight hitting miscues put the Falcons within one at 9-8.  Despite six service errors in the set, the Falcons pulled away a 25-20 victory.

In the third set, Lasell picked up 14 kills in 31 tries with just three hitting errors for a .355 hitting percentage as a team as the Lasers went on to take a 25-22 set victory.  The Falcons also hit well, recording 17 kills in the frame. 

After back-and-forth play in the final set, a kill by Lasell's Drew Caruso tied the contest at 12 before the Lasers went on a 9-2 run to take a 21-14 advantage.  Ryan Jackson secured the match victory for the Lasers with back-to-back kills for the final two points of the math.

Johnson finished the night with 13 digs to go along with his 12 kills, while Douglas DeSousa (Danbury, Conn.) added seven kills, two service aces, and seven digs. Chase Brinton (Orange, Conn.) added 10 digs for the Falcons. Carlos Torres (Adjuntas, Puerto Rico) dished out 35 assists and picked up a match high 15 digs.

The Falcons return to action on Saturday, March 16 when they head to Rivier University for a tri-match featuring the Falcons, Raiders and Emerson College. The Falcons will take on host Rivier at 11:00 a.m. before taking on Emerson at 1:00 p.m.

Lasell will continue their road swing, heading to New York for the York College Invitational where they will face-off with Mount Olive, New Jersey City, Polytchnic and Wells College in Friday and Saturday the 8^th and 9^th.