Men's Volleyball Bounces Back with Straight Sweep of Mustangs

NEWTON, Mass. – Lasell College downed Mount Ida 3-0 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's volleyball action Thursday evening at the Mount Ida Athletic Center. The Lasers earned the win with scores of 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 to improve to 13-11 (9-1 GNAC), while the Mustangs fell to 6-18 and 1-9 in the conference as they dropped their ninth straight contest.

The Lasers got nine kills from Ryan Jackson (Canton, Ohio) and seven kills apiece from Tristan Davis (Rochester, N.Y.) and Patrick MacDonald (Floral Park, N.Y.) and never trailed in each of the three sets.

Mount Ida was paced by five kills from Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.) and got 18 assists from Nathan Sprengle (Williamstown, N.J.), who was also in on two blocks. TJ Nicholas (Shelton, Conn.) added four kills and five blocks, while Griffenkranz and Tyler Shinkle (West Deptford, N.J.) had a service ace apiece.

Jackson notched three kills in a 5-0 run in set one that extended the Laser lead from 9-7 to 14-7 and Lasell won the final four points of the match, include two service aces by Andy Henriquez (Lawrence, Mass.).

The second set saw a similar trend, as a serving run by MacDonald that included kills by Jackson, Henriquez and Davis helped turn a 15-12 game into a 22-12 lead for the visitors. They finished off the set with a kill by Henriquez and a service ace by Davis.

Henriquez and Andrew Glenn (Westport, Conn.) shared setting duties for Lasell, with Glenn piling up 18 assists and Henriquez adding ten assists and two aces.

Jordan Aprea (Newington, Conn.) led the Lasers defensively with eight digs.

In the third set, Lasell opened up a 6-0 lead with four kills in the first six points and extended their advantage to 11-3 and 17-8 on a kill by MacDonad before a Brett Southworth (Orange, Conn.) kill stopped the bleeding for Mount Ida.

The Mustangs pulled to within six points, but three straight errors led to match point, and Jackson finished off the game with his ninth kill of the evening.

Lasell looks to continue their momentum when they travel to Emerson next Tuesday for a 7:00 pm conference affair. Mount Ida will look for better luck this Saturday when they host a non-conference tri-match with Newbury and Fontbonne starting at 11:00 AM at Mount Ida Athletic Center. The Mustangs will also honor their four graduating seniors during that match.

Recap Courtesy of Mount Ida College Sports Information