MEN'S VOLLEYBALL FALLS IN TRI-MATCH AT WENTWORTH 0-2

The Mount Ida College men’s volleyball team traveled to downtown Boston, Massachusetts this past Saturday taking on their first North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) tri-match against hosting Wentworth Institute of Technology (3-0, 30-22, 30-21, 30-24) and visiting Endicott College (3-0, 30-21. 30-11, 30-14) losing both matches 3-0.  The Mustangs fall to 0-3 so far this season and remain 0-1 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play. 

The Mustangs first match was against the visiting Gulls falling 3-0 in non-conference action.  Endicott would jump out to an early, 7-1 lead against Mount Ida before the Mustangs would eventually pull within a pair at 15-13.  However, an 8-1 run by the Gulls upped the lead to 23-14, en route to a 30-21 win in the opening game.  Game two saw the match tied at 3-all in the early going, but Endicott went on a 17-1 run to take a 20-4 lead and win the second game by a 30-11 score.

The third game would see Mount Ida come within a pair at 8-6, but that would be as close as the Mustangs would get as the Gulls took the match in three games with a 30-14 win.  Junior Thomas Belton (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central) tallied five kills and nine digs while freshman Spencer Hastings (Orlando, FL/Timber Creak) added four kills and a pair of solo blocks. 

In the final match of the day for the Mustangs, Wentworth jumped out to a 10-1 lead, and despite the Mustangs closing the gap to 28-20, the Leopards went ahead, 1-0, with a 30-22 win.  A fast start in the second game saw the Leopards turn a 4-2 lead into a 12-2 lead with eight straight points before winning the second game, 30-21.

Mount Ida trailed the third game by a 5-0 score but rallied to tie the game at 6-all and again at 9-all, before three straight Leopard points gave Wentworth the lead for good at 12-9.  The Mustangs scored the next point to make it a two-point game, but Wentworth scored 12 of the next 15 points and would eventually win, 30-24.

On the day, Mount Ida received strong performances from junior Belton and Hastings.  Belton had 16 kills, a pair of blocks, and five digs, while Hastings had 12 kills, two blocks and nine digs.

The Mustangs will travel to GNAC number one seed Rivier College this coming Wednesday night starting at 7:00 p.m.