BENNINGTON, Vt. – In a thrilling and tightly-contested men's volleyball match, Southern Vermont College knocked off Endicott College 3-2 Tuesday night at the Mountaineer Athletic Center in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action.
The win marks the first for SVC over the Gulls in 14 meetings between the two programs; it is also the first NECC regular season loss for Endicott since joining the league for the 2012 season, ending its 28-match winning streak.
Southern Vt. won the first two games 25-22 and 25-21 before Endicott bounced back to take the next two 25-18 and 25-19. The Mountaineers were able to recompose and win the deciding set 17-15, committing no attacking errors while hitting .591 with 13 kills on 22 swings in the frame.
Senior Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) had a monstrous night for SVC, tallying a career-high 30 kills to go with 13 digs and four assists. His previous best was 23 kills which he had twice in his freshman season, both in four-set matches. Against Endicott, Barahona had only one attacking error on 57 attempts for a .509 hitting percentage.
Southern Vt. improves to 7-6 on the year with the victory, 4-1 in the conference, while Endicott moves to 8-4 overall, 4-1 in NECC play.
With just 15 attacking errors all match, the Mountaineers recorded a season-best .329 hitting percentage on the night. The lowest they registered in the five-setter was a .229 percentage in the first, a game that SVC won.
Barahona was followed in the kill column on the SVC side by junior Keven Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) who had 11, adding a team-best 16 digs in the effort. Junior Scott Fitzgerald (Fort Edward, N.Y.) totaled nine kills and eight digs, and junior libero Florentino Escovedo (Fresno, Calif.) popped up 12 digs. Senior setter Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.) had a great all-around match, assisting on 50 of the 59 Mountaineer kills while adding six dump kills of his own and four digs.
Three Gulls hit double digits in the kill column, being paced by senior captain Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.) who had 19 to go with his six digs and two block assists. Senior Josh Anderson (La Canada, Calif.) was not far behind with 17 while pitching in with eight digs, and senior captain Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.) got in on the action with 15 kills, adding three digs and two block assists to his line. Endicott senior libero Aaron Jesse (Okinawa, Japan) recorded a match-best 23 digs while senior setter and captain Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) topped all players with 57 assists.
With the score tied 2-2 in the early going of the first set, SVC took to a 5-0 run to take a quick lead. The Gulls would soon-after score five-of-six of their own before tying the match at 13-13. From there, the two sides battled until an Anderson kill put the visitors up 20-17. That's when Southern Vt. responded with three unanswered to tie it once again, and then closed out the set with five straight, the last two coming on kills by Barahona.
Not letting themselves get down, EC came out in the second to go up 10-7 with a kill by freshman middle Ryan Sutherland (Fairport, N.Y.). The Mountaineers then rallied for five of the next six points to take their first lead of the frame at 12-11. The Gulls hung tough, however, and took back the lead before SVC won seven points in a nine-point stretch for a 20-16 advantage. At that point, neither side served twice consecutively as Southern Vt. took to the 25-21 set win.
Looking to get back in the match, the Roche-to-Netherton play seemed unstoppable for Endicott as the tandem accounted for three kills in the first five points of the third game, putting EC up 4-1. The Gulls never trailed the rest of the way as the duo hooked up two more times while keeping the Mountaineers from taking back the lead. Southern Vt. was able to trim it to a 14-13 Gull advantage with five unanswered points, but EC scored eight of the next 10 to go up seven at 22-15. From there, Endicott closed it out, the final point being a Netherton kill off a Roche set.
EC found itself up 6-2 soon into the fourth, getting help from four Mountaineer miscues. SVC battled to tie it up at 8-8, but the Gulls' attack was too efficient. They hit .467 in the frame, committing only three attacking errors while putting down 17 kills on 30 attempts. An Endicott service error put Southern Vt. down only two at 17-15, but the Gulls responded with the next four points, two being kills and another a service ace, to take a comfortable 21-15 cushion. The two sides traded points the rest of the way as EC tied the match with the 25-19 fourth-set victory.
Carrying their momentum into the final frame, the Gulls jumped out to a 4-1 lead, all points being scored via kill. Both squads continued to be efficient on their attacks, going back-and-forth until EC was up 9-6. At that point, however, Southern Vt. scored four of the next five points, two being kills from Barahona, to even things at 10-10. Once again, kills were traded until a Barahona point forced an Endicott timeout with the Gulls down 13-12. Following the stoppage, EC recorded the first attacking error of the set to put it at match-point for the Mountaineers and cause Endicott to use another timeout.
The Gulls came out of their meeting and saw Roche once again set up Netherton to make it 14-13. Netherton then almost cost his team the contest when his serve nearly went into the net; the ball made its way over, however, and play carried on until Conigilione popped up and slammed back a ball coming from the SVC side to tie it at 14-14. After a Barahona kill and an SVC service error set it to 15-15, a Gull mishap from behind the line again gave the Mountaineers the match-point. Following a short volley, Endicott was forced to just get it over on its third touch, but the ball sailed over the back line as SVC celebrated its historical victory.
Southern Vt. looks to extend its winning streak to five in-a-row when it travels to Sarah Lawrence College on Thursday for a 6 p.m. non-conference tilt. The Gulls turn around to their Endicott Invitational this weekend, kicking off Friday night with an NECC match against Daniel Webster College at 6 p.m.