The Southern Vermont College Men's Volleyball team swept Saturday afternoon's tri-match at Newbury College between the Nighthawks and Wentworth Institute of Technology. The Mountaineers won its first game against Wentworth 3-0 and after dropping the first set, won the next three against Newbury to win 3-1, in NECC action.
Southern Vermont 3, Wentworth 0
The energy in the building was high for the second match of the day as Southern Vermont first year Kevin Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) led the Mountaineers to a quick 3-0 sweep. The Outside hitter registered an impressive .375 hitting percentage and notched a team-high eight kills.
Walley opened the match notching five kills in 11 attempts to help the Mountaineers take the 1-0 lead with the 25-21 first set victory. From there the Mountaineers never looked back. Hard-hitting first year middle hitter Corey Mills (Fresno, Calif.) recorded a .667 attack percentage in the second set as the Mountaineers fended off a Leopard comeback to claim the second set 25-20.
The Mountaineers spread the offense around and sealed the three game sweep with a decisive, 25-16 victory in the third set. Sophomore outside hitter Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) registered three kills on five total attempts for a .600 attack percentage.
Southern Vermont 3, Newbury 1
After the win against Wentworth earlier in the day, SVC came out strong against Newbury. The Mountaineers led 23-20 late in the set but the Nighthawks responded with a 6-1 run to take the first set. Southern Vermont answered and took the next two sets by scores of 25-18 putting them one win away from sweeping the Saturday afternoon tri-match.
The Nighthawks tried valiantly to force a fifth set as they did in their first match of the afternoon. However, it was too late as the Mountaineers clung on to the 25-22 victory for their second win of the day. Barahona led the Mountaineers with 14 kills and a .310 hitting percentage. Anthony Ayala assisted on 26 kills for SVC, and Senior Nick Haggerty led the defense with 21 digs.
Southern Vermont improves to 4-4 and remains undefeated at 3-0 in the conference, Newbury falls to 2-5 on the season and 1-3 in NECC action while Wentworth climbs to 5-4.