Photo Courtesy: Bill DiLillo Photography
CHICOPEE, Mass. - The Southern Vermont College men's volleyball team kicked of its 2010 season on the road in a NECVA tri-match against the hosting Elms College Blazers and the Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards Saturday afternoon. SVC came out 0-2 but battled hard as the team crystallizes under the new leadership of Head Coach Carmine Garofalo.
WENTWORTH 3, SOUTHERN VERMONT 0 Box Score
30-8, 30-24, 30-17
Wentworth's Dan Mulvey had 15 kills to lead the Leopards past SVC Saturday. Wentworth improved to 2-0 with the win, while the Mountaineers dropped to 0-1 on the season.
Following, a 30-8 win in the first set, Wentworth led Southern Vermont 25-24 in a highly contested second frame when Mulvey delivered a kill that would set off a string of six consecutive Leopards points to take a two set lead. The pivotal kill was Mulvey's ninth of the set.
The third set followed much of the same pattern as the second, as the two teams were locked in a tight 15-13 game before the Leopards went on yet another run which they outscored Southern Vermont 15-4. The run was sparked by two kills by Lowell Jesmer , along with two more kills by Mulvey.
Wentworth's Tyler Moriarty handed out an impressive game high 33 assists, including 20 in the second set.
In the loss, Mountaineers' Neel Patel had 14 of the Mountaineers 16 assists. Southern Vermont also received large contributions from Sean Moore who had a team high eight kills, along with Matthew Schwab who added six kills of his own.
ELMS 3, SOUTHERN VERMONT 0 Box Score
31-29, 30-14, 30-18
Against Southern Vermont, the opening frame saw 12 ties and seven lead changes before Martin delivered a kill to break a 29-29 stalemate, giving the Blazers a 30-29 edge. Freshman middle hitter Wilfrido Fermin then smashed a kill to give Elms a 31-29 victory in the set and post a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, the Blazers established a 15-10 cushion and then scored four straight points to extend that lead to 19-10. Leading 21-13, a string of six straight points, highlighted by a kill each from Kleckner and sophomore middle hitter Aaron Coifman, and two from Cameron to up the advantage to 27-13.
The Mountaineers received a kill from Jullian Amaral but a Cameron kill and two Southern Vermont attacking errors sealed the second set victory for Elms and a 2-0 lead in the contest.
Following a 6-6 tie in the third stanza, the Blazers used a 14-6 run to take a 20-10 lead. The Mountaineers pulled to within 10 again at 27-17, but kills by Cameron, Ryan and Kleckner sealed the set and Elms' first victory of the season.
Cameron and Kleckner finished with 10 kills each in the match, while sophomore libero Juan Carlos Salmeron picked up 15 digs in the winning effort. Ryan dished out 24 assists, while Martin delivered nine assists to direct the Elms offense.
Southern Vermont will be back in action when they travel to take on SUNYIT this Monday night at 7:00 p.m.