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MEN'S VOLLEYBALL DROPS SEASON HOME OPENER TO ELMS
The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team opened the season on campus Monday night against Elms College losing 3-0 (17-30, 18-30, and 13-30). The Mustangs drop their first loss of the year slumping to 0-1 overall while the Blazers capture their first victory of the season after a 0-3 start.
It was close in the opening of game one with the Mustangs leading around the 7-6 mark on a sophomore Thomas Belton (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) kill. The host advantage was short lived while the visitors took over after an 11-6 run to pull ahead 23-14. The Blazers eventually cashed in the game one victory to pull ahead 1-0 in the match winning 30-17 with sophomore Alberto Bravo (Toa Baja, PR/Carmen Sol) powering the visiting offense.
The Mustangs again led for the beginning of game two up 3-1 after a service ace by senior captain Bryan McMenamin (Warminster, PA/William Tennent). The advantage continued for the hosts up 9-7 on a service error by the Blazers. The score would knot twice at 9-9 and 10-10 until the hard hitting visitors started to take command off an 8-1 run. Belton helped the Mustangs pull within three after a couple of consecutive kills trailing 17-14. Unfortunately, that's as close as Mount Ida would get while Elms rode out a 13-4 run taking the 30-18 victory to lead the match 2-0.
Although the Mustangs took an early 3-2 lead, The Blazers turned up the heat for the rest of game three. Mount Ida had a tough time eliminating the mistakes which made it much easier for the visitors to capitalize on points. Elms went on an 18-8 run after the early Mustangs lead jumping ahead 20-10 with no answer from the hosts. The visitors ultimately took the 30- 13 game three win along with a 3-0 match shutout.
The Mustangs were led by Belton (9) and McMenamin (4) who combined for 13 kills and nine digs. Freshman McCoy Arnoux (Brockton, MA/Brockton) added five kills and one dig while sophomore Gary Alvarez (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) notched 22 assists.
The Blazers saw outstanding performances by sophomore Carlos DeLeon-Gomez (Carolina, PR/Colegio Bautista de Carolina) who tallied 13 kills, four errors, 23 attempts, and two solo blocks. Senior Marc Carrasco (Safford, AZ/Pueblo High Magnet School) blasted 10 kills, four errors, 17 attempts, and one solo block. Junior Ivan Andujar (Carolina, PR/Colegio Bautista de Carolina) added 44 assists and two service aces.
The Mustangs will head to Newbury College this coming Saturday for their first tri-match of the season against Newbury and Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe Emmanuel College starting at 11:00 a.m.
