Lasers Down Emmanuel, JWU to Earn #2 Seed in Postseason Tournament

BOSTON, Mass. – The Lasell men's volleyball team took a pair of wins against Johnson and Wales and Emmanuel College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tri-match Saturday afternoon at the Emmanuel College Gymnasium.  With the day's results, the Lasers earned the number two seed and a first round bye in the GNAC postseason Tournament.

LASELL vs. JOHNSON & WALES (25-14, 29-27, 25-23)

The Lasers dominated from the get-go in a sweep of Johnson & Wales. The Lasers, led by junior Patrick MacDonald (Floral Park, N.Y.) and senior Ryan Jackson (Canton, Ohio), jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the opening set. MacDonald then earned kills on three of the last four Lasell points to help close of the set at 25-14.

The Wildcats showed fight in each of the final two sets, leading both of them deep into each frame. However, with JWU in their second match of the day, the Lasers were able to find ways to score late in both sets to erase the JWU leads and close out the 3-0 sweep. 

MacDonald and Jackson combined for 31 kills in the match, while the Wildcats only had 32 as a team. 

EMMANUEL vs. LASELL (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16)

The Saints came out firing in the opening set, taking an early 8-3 lead after an ace by Orsley. The lead lasted all the way to 16-13, before Jackson and freshman Andy Henriquez (Lawrence, Mass.) each picked up a kill and Lasell ran off four straight points to take a 17-16 lead.

Emmanuel regained the lead, scoring two points out of a timeout, but the Lasers scored eight of the final 11 points in the frame to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

The second set was a tight battle, as neither team led by more than three points at any time from start to finish. The biggest run of the set came with the Saints trailing 16-13 after a kill by senior Andrew Glenn (Westport, Conn.). Lasell junior Tristan Davis (Rochester, N.Y.) missed on a service error, Wingard nailed an ace, and English buried a kill to tie the score at 16. The Saints scored two more before the Lasers used a timeout, now trailing 18-16.

The visitors responded with a run of their own, scoring nine of the next 14 points to win the set 25-23. MacDonald had four kills in the 9-5 stretch for the Lasers.

Much like the rest of the season, Emmanuel did not go down easily despite trailing 2-0. Deadlocked at 14-14 in the third set, the Saints took advantage of three Lasell attack errors and a Wingard kill and opened up an 18-14 lead. The Lasers would eventually tie things back up at 22, but the momentum had swung for the Saints and Wingard ended the set with a monster spike off of an assist from freshman Andres Saladrigas (Miami, Fla.).

The Saints ran out of gas in the fourth set, and the #2 seed in the upcoming GNAC tournament took advantage. The Saints battled late to pull within three (18-15), but two MacDonald kills bookended a 7-1 run that closed the set and the match. 

TRI-MATCH STATISTICS 

Lasell was led by MacDonald, who finished with 36 kills and a hitting percentage of over-.400. Davis had 20 kills and Jackson added 28, while Glenn had 80 assists on the afternoon. For the Wildcats, Seda put down 15 kills and Malone had 10. Ponce finished with 49 assists in the pair of losses.

Wingard carried the Saints offensively once again, tallying 39 kills in the split. Orsley had a solid outing as well, earning 14 kills, an ace, and five digs. Jorge Rojas (San Juan P.R.) (36) and Saladrigas (43) combined for 79 of Emmanuel's 84 assists. 

The Lasers will host the winner of Tuesday's Rivier and Emerson match on Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m.