Photo Courtesy: Bill DiLillo Photography
BENNINGTON, Vt. - The Southern Vermont College men's volleyball team won its first match of the season with a stellar performance against North East Collegiate Volleyball Association New England division foe the Regis College Pride Saturday night 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-15). Junior outside hitter Julian Amaral led SVC with a match-high 16 kills, while junior setter Neel Patel provided ample opportunities for the Mountaineers attack with a match-high 18 assists.
Southern Vermont improves to 1-3 overall, 1-2 in the New England division (NECVA), and 0-1 in the NECC. Regis falls to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the New England division.
Amaral also finished with 11 digs (match-high), and hit .394 on the night. Sophomore Matt Schwab contributed five kills on .200 hitting and sophomore Sean Moore had six kills, three aces, and four digs. Ryan Heron had nine digs for the young squad that had not won a match in seven tries dating back to the 2009 season.
The Pride was led by freshman outside hitter Thomas Paoletta who had four kills, an ace, and nine digs. Also contributing was middle hitter Si Pan Leong who had four kills and two block assists (Regis led the match with 6.5 blocks to SVC's 2.0)
Southern Vermont is back in action Friday, January 29th, when it hosts NECVA New England division foe MIT at 7:00 p.m.