BEVERLY, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College men's volleyball team was downed 3-1 on the road Thursday evening by Endicott College at MacDonald Gymnasium in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action.
EC took the first two sets 25-16 and 26-24 before the Mountaineers won the third by a 25-19 margin. Endicott then came back to close out the match with a strong 25-10 fourth-set victory.
The Gulls avenged an earlier season loss at SVC to split the season series and move to 9-1 in the league, 14-8 overall. Southern Vt. falls to 6-3 in the NECC and 10-8 on the year.
Mountaineer junior outside Scott Fitzgerald (Fort Edward, N.Y.) finished with a solid overall performance, leading the team with a .296 hitting percentage with 11 kills while adding a match-high 15 digs. He also recorded a solo block and served up an ace. Senior Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) tied Fitzgerald with 11 kills while juniors Joey Dighton (Riverside, Calif.) and Keven Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) each chipped in with eight; Walley added a defensive presence with 11 digs.
Southern Vermont senior setter Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.) dished out 34 assists and junior libero Florentino Escovedo (Fresno, Calif.) factored in with nine digs in the loss.
Gulls sophomore setter Tyler Bacon (Cypress, Calif.) utilized Brennan Lowe (Malibu, Calif.) frequently, but also benefited from strong games by senior middle Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.) and senior right side Josh Anderson (La Canada, Calif.). Netherton struck 11 kills on 21 swings with a .381 hitting percentage while Anderson added 10 kills at a .429 clip with just one error. With an extra 10 kills from sophomore outside John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) and another seven from senior Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.), Bacon was able to accumulate 46 assists (11.5 per set) which ties his season-high. Lowe added a career-high 15 kills in the win.
Defensively, Bacon was a majority contributor, tying the match-high of 15 digs while Anderson, Osborne, and senior libero Aaron Jessee (Okinawa, Japan) all reached double figures with 14, 12, and 11 digs, respectively. On the block, Netherton and Coniglione continued to lead the team with a combined seven. Two of Netherton's blocks were solo stuffs while Coniglione and Anderson also tallied a solo.
The Mountaineers now set their sights to a Sunday 5 p.m. match at home against Regis College while Endicott prepares for a 1 p.m. Saturday contest at Daniel Webster College.