MVB: Laser Fall in Two Five Setters as They Play Four Matches in California

Thousand Oaks, CA - The Lasell Lasers Men's Volleyball team played four games over the past two days in California, dropping all four of them in close matches, including two five setters. The Lasers are now 10-11 on the season.

Match One vs #13 Nazareth (3/17/2023)

The Lasers fell in straight sets to the ranked Golden Flyers by a final score of 23-25, 23-25, 21-25. Each set was close, but the Golden Flyers had an answer for every Lasell run, and ultimately were able to win each set. It was a two headed attack on offense for the Lasers, as Jasper Schultz led the way with nine kills on 15 attacks. Dexter Thomas also had a strong match, recording seven kills on 15 attacks. Jesus Garcia had 17 set assists, while Schultz led the team with eight digs. Right behind him was Alex Weinhaus and Jordan Shinaut with seven digs. Thomas and Shinaut each led the team with three digs.

Match Two vs St. Norbert (3/17/2023)

In another close match, the Lasers fell in four sets to the Green Knights in four sets by a score of 19-25, 19-25, 25-22, 21-25. The Lasers were led by Jordan Shinaut offensively, as he had 19 kills on 42 attempts. David Massa was the next leading attacker, as he had nine attacks on 26 attempts. Jesus Garcia and Zak Burkett were in the middle of a lot of these kills, as they had 20 and 16 set assists respectively. Massa led the team with 10 digs, and Garcia was right behind him with nine. Massa, also led the team with three blocks, all of which were of the solo variety. The key area of this game was when the Lasers were attacking, as the Green Knights held an advantage in those situations, as the Lasers committed 36 attacking errors, and the Green Knights had 25 blocks.

Match Three vs UC Santa Cruz (3/18/2023)

In this match, the Lasers fell behind after dropping the first set, but surged ahead of the Banana Slugs by winning the second and third sets. After rallying in the fourth set to tie things up at 17, they ultimately dropped the set 25-21, sending the match to a decisive fifth set. The Banana Slugs controlled that set, and ultimately won the match 25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-6. The star of the match for the Lasers was Jordan Shinaut, as he had 28 kills on 61 attempts. Shinaut's 61 attack attempts came just short of the program record of 64 set by Dan Raffol in 2015. His 28 attacks were also among the most in program history, just three short of Jeff Vautrin's record from 2015. Dexter Thomas also had double-digit kills with 10. Jesus Garcia had 42 set assists, and was second on the team with six digs, just one behind Alex Weinhaus' seven digs. Tucker Merritt led the team with six total blocks.

Match Four vs Cal Lutheran (3/18/2023)

In their final match of their trip, the Lasers played their second five set match of the day, this time against the invitational's host Cal Lutheran. Despite fighting hard, the Lasers dropped the match 25-16, 15-25, 25-21, 28-30, 13-15. After trading lopsided sets, the two teams played a closer third set that the Lasers were able to capture. In a long, back and forth forth set, the Lasers served match points up 25-24, 27-26, and 28-27, but were unable to score on any of them. After dropping the fourth set, the Lasers fell behind midway through the fifth set, and were unable to come back. Jordan Shinaut continued his strong play from the previous matches, as he recorded 22 kills on 60 attacks. For the weekend he recorded 73 kills over the four matches. This match he also had the second most digs on the team with 12, just one behind Jasper Schultz' 13. Schultz also had 13 kills on 35 attacks. A third Laser recorded a double-double, as Jesus Garcia had 45 set assists and 11 digs. Carter Phillips led the team with seven total blocks.

Up Next - The Lasers will return to conference play with a road match against Colby-Sawyer on Thursday, March 23rd at 7pm.