NASHUA, N.H. – The Endicott men's volleyball team kicked off their 2014 season in a big way with victory over New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) rival Daniel Webster 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-21), with no conference record implications, to improve to 1-0 on the season. Endicott, with the majority of their starting lineup back from last season, showed efficiency in their first match with a .320 team hitting percentage.
The Gulls are taking part in a two-day tournament in New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die Invitational, hosted by Daniel Webster and the nation's #8-ranked team Rivier. Endicott takes on #5 Baruch at 12:00 pm tomorrow before a 2:00 pm match against the host Raiders. Endicott has played Rivier more times in their program's history than any other team, but hold just a 5-27 record with their last win coming in February of 2010 when the Raiders were ranked #7 in the country. Rivier is coming off a pair of Saturday wins including one over the top-ranked team in the country, Springfield, 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-19, 25-13).
In today's match with Daniel Webster the Gulls saw sophomore outside hitter John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.), who finished second on the team with 228 kills in 2013, had a team-high 12 kills with a .400 hitting percentage. Osborne also had six digs and two aces in the win. Gulls senior outside Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.) was the only other Endicott hitter to have double digit kills with 10.
Endicott also got strong performances from senior middle Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.) and sophomore middle Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.) who combined for 12 kills with just one error and a .407 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside Dan Seaver (Milford, Mass.) stepped into the starting lineup in his first match of the season and struck seven kills to go along with five digs, a block assist, and an ace.
Senior setter Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) dished a match-high 38 assists and totaled seven digs. He also dropped in two kills on eight attempts.
Defensively, senior libero Aaron Jessee (Okinawa, Japan) led the team with nine digs while Netherton came in just behind with seven digs. Coniglione assisted on two blocks at the net.
Daniel Webster's Joel Hendrix (Kane'ohe, Hawaii) led all players with 13 kills and a .423 hitting percentage and teammate Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, Alaska) added 10 kills, but the Eagles hit .198 as a team.
