No. 12 Men's Volleyball Downs No. 9 Marymount in Five-Set Thriller

NEWTON, Mass. (3/10/17) -- The Lasell College men's volleyball team earned a thrilling victory Friday night in the Athletic Center, winning two straight sets and the deciding fifth in extra points to down the ninth-ranked Saints of Marymount University.

The Lasers, who rank 12th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III Top 15 poll, improve to 17-4 on the season. The Saints slip to 12-6.

Senior Tristan Davis (Rochester, N.Y.) shattered his career-high 27 kills to just four errors and recorded two service aces in the match, leading a Lasell offense that hit .394 and recorded at least 11 kills in all five sets. Classmate Jeffrey Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) swung through 16 kills and led the Lasers with eight digs, while sophomore Andy Henriquez (Lawrence, Mass.) dished out 59 of the team's 67 assists.

Junior TJ Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del.) led three Marymount players with at least 11 kills, posting a match-high 30. Freshman Joseph Zanelotti (Buffalo, N.Y.) served up 58 assists, while junior Connor Choate (Birdsboro, Pa.) recorded 13 digs.

In the first set, Lasell used a six-point run to break a 6-6 tie and then scored five of the last six points to earn the 25-17 victory, including three straight. Davis began the early spurt with three straight kills before closing out the initial game with back-to-back service aces.

The second set was the Lasers' best of the night as they recorded 17 of their 25 points via kills. Senior Patrick MacDonald (Floral Park, N.Y.) recorded three of Lasell's first nine before dropping a service ace to make the score 10-4. The teams went back and forth in the middle stages of the game, but three of the final five points went in the hosts' favor with Davis recording two kills and MacDonald the last, all assisted by Henriquez.

The final three sets were decided by five points or less, with the Saints winning by set scores of 25-23 and 25-20 in the third and fourth, respectively. Neither team held more than a three-point lead in the third set, but Marymount turned a 15-15 tie into a 19-16 lead and never looked back as Wiechecki downed two straight kills to end it.  

Lasell scored six of the fourth set's first ten points with four different players posting kills in that stretch, but the next six points went in the opposite direction to give the Saints an 11-6 lead. Three straight errors brought Lasell back within one at 18-17, but kills from freshman Janci Soto (Lawrence, Mass.) and sophomore Saunoa Afoa (Las Vegas, Nev.) were not enough for a late comeback.

The fifth set was a tightly contested battle as the Lasers responded with four straight points out of a timeout after Marymount took an 11-7 lead, a stretch that began with a pair of Vautrin kills. From there, the set tied ten times before a three-point swing won the game for the Lasers. Down 24-23, Henriquez set Davis up for his final kill of the night before a pair of attack errors ended the match.

Lasell returns to action and Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Tuesday, March 21 against crosstown rival Mount Ida at 6:00 p.m. Marymount returns home to host Juniata on Friday, March 17 at 7:00 p.m.