Lasell Men’s Volleyball splits two GNAC matches

NEWTON, Mass. – The Lasell College men's volleyball team split a pair of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) matches Saturday afternoon at the Athletic Center, sweeping Mount Ida College in the early match, 3-0, before falling to Johnson & Wales University in the nightcap, 3-2. JWU also took Mount Ida down in the middle match of the day, 3-0.

Lasell (4-15) and JWU (9-12) are now tied with Emerson College for fourth place in the GNAC with 2-3 conference records, while Mount Ida (9-13) is 0-6 in conference play.

The Lasers used a balanced team attack to defeat the Mustangs by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-15. Junior Andy Henriquez (Lawrence, Mass.) distributed the ball as 10 teammates posted at least two kills each. Junior Nathan Gallo (North Providence, R.I.) led the way with seven winners and a .778 attack percentage (7-0-9), and freshmen Aaron Waitekus (Norwood, Mass.) and Dillon DeSouza (Enfield, Conn.) had four kills, no errors and three blocks apiece. Junior Jordan Aprea (Newington, Conn.) made a team-high eight digs.

Lasell won the first (25-22) and third (25-17) sets against Johnson & Wales, but the Wildcats came from behind to take the second (25-16), fourth (25-13) and fifth (15-12) sets. JWU hit .266 as a team while Lasell posted a .199 attack percentage.

Aprea had a career performance for Lasell against JWU, recording 26 kills with a .385 attack percentage while also making 10 digs. Freshman Conor Leary-Watson (Bethany Conn.) had nine kills but made 10 errors. Henriquez finished with 49 assists, second most in a match this season. Freshman Cobi Moore (Hampstead, N.H.) posted a team-high 15 digs, and Gallo added 10 digs.

With the match tied at two sets apiece, the final set went down to the wire as well with the score tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5. JWU pulled ahead with three straight points, only to see Lasell answer with three in a row to even the score at 8-8. The Wildcats pulled ahead by four points at 13-9 and 14-10, but Lasell would not away and came back to within two at 14-12, but a kill by Matt LaVasseur won it for the visitors.

Lasell will be home again on Tuesday, March 20, hosting Emmanuel College in a GNAC match at 7:00 p.m.

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