BENNINGTON, Vt. – Limited to just three kills in a deciding fifth set, Southern Vermont College fell 3-2 Sunday evening to Regis College at the Mountaineer Athletic Center in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball battle.
The Pride captured their first program win in nine meetings with the Mountaineers with set scores of 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, and 15-11.
RC improves its season record to 11-10 with the victory including a 6-5 mark in the league. Southern Vt. drops to 6-4 in NECC action, 10-9 overall. Regis holds a good position in the playoff hunt, currently sitting at fourth in the conference with Sunday's win. With two matches left against the league this season, SVC now finds itself in third place.
The Pride put down 64 kills to SVC's 54 and had a slight .248 to .229 advantage in the hitting percentage column. Neither team was especially hot from behind the line as Regis and the Mountaineers totaled 17 and 28 service errors, respectively.
SVC senior Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) led the team with 19 kills, committing only three hitting errors on 54 swings (.296 hitting percentage). Junior Scott Fitzgerald (Fort Edward, N.Y.) followed with 13 kills, and junior Keven Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) tallied nine kills and zero hitting errors on 18 attempts. Barahona and Fitzgerald registered 11 and 10 digs, respectively, while junior libero Florentino Escovedo (Fresno, Calif.) notched a match-best 24.
Senior setter Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.) assisted on 46 of the 51 Mountaineer kills on the evening while adding two kills, three digs and three block assists. Fitzgerald had three service aces, and Barahona notched two aces, two solo blocks and two block assists.
Regis saw freshman Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) lead all players with 21 kills, recording just three hitting errors on 46 attempts for a .391 hitting percentage. Freshman Zach Sindoni (Haverhill, Mass.) was not far behind with another 19 kills, and sophomore captain Joe Coye (Plaistow, N.H.) reached double digits with 13 kills of his own.
The Pride used a well-rounded defense in the win with five players having at least 10 digs; Sindoni led the team with 18. Freshman setter Joe Hanrahan (Coventry, R.I.) set up the Regis offense with a match-high 48 assists.
Southern Vt. will try to bounce back Monday night when the Mountaineers visit Lesley University for an 8 p.m. match, and Regis finishes its NECC schedule with a 7 p.m. contest at home Wednesday evening against Newbury College.