MEN'S VOLLEYBALL DROPS SEVENTH LOSS TO JOHNSON AND WALES UNIVERSITY

The Mount Ida College Men’s Volleyball team hosted Johnson and Wales University Tuesday night in a non-conference match-up taking the 3-0 loss (30-19, 30-26, 30-27). The Mustangs would drop to 2-7 on the season, 1-3 in the conference while the Wildcats better their record to 2-4, 1-1 in league play.

Game one was dominated by the Wildcats midway though leading by as many as seven at 17-10. The Mustangs would struggle to make a comeback giving Johnson and Wales and easy victory, 30-19, to go up 1-0. But the home team would not give in showing an all out effort around the entire court with thoughts of things to come for the rest of the match.

It would be a completely different in game two with both team matching points throughout the bulk of competition. The Wildcats pulled away by a game high four points only for the Mustangs to come roaring back to tie it at 19-19 with some outstanding play by captains Tim Hughes (Holliston, MA/Holliston) and Bryan McMenamin (Warminster, PA/William Tennant). They would keep their teammates motivated to power up and stay close pulling with one at 23-24. But J & W would out score Mount Ida to take the 30-26 victory for a 2-0 match lead.

The hosts would not give in to the shut out, tying the game eight times, continuing to pound away at the competition and chipping away points while taking the early advantage up 6-4 in game three. The teams would go back and forth around the midway point with the Wildcats leading but a game high two up 25-23. The Mustangs couldn’t pull ahead taking the 30-27 loss and dropping the match 3-0.

The Mustangs saw some improvement surrounding the court by JuniorBrandon Powell (Turner, ME/Leavitt Area) and Sophomore Shane Wilson (Gloucester, MA/Gloucester). Freshman newcomers Thomas Belton (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) and Gary Alvarez (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) added positive attack arond the net.

Mount Ida will travel to MIT this weekend for their annual tournament with the festivities starting this Friday in the evening.