BENNINGTON, Vt. – Playing without their kill leader on the outside and a high-impact middle, the Endicott men's volleyball lost in five sets (25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25, 17-15) to Southern Vermont and suffered their first regular season loss to a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) opponent since joining the league in 2012. The Gulls had gone 12-0 in regular season conference play in both 2012 and 2013 and were 4-0 heading into tonight's road match, a streak of 28 straight wins.
Endicott (8-4, 4-1 NECC) struggled early on, hitting less than .200 in the first two sets which they lost 25-22 and 25-21 For the remainder of the match, however, Endicott's offensive and defensive efforts took off with a team hitting percentage of .364 combined over the third, fourth, and fifth sets.
In the deciding fifth set, Endicott jumped out to a 4-1 lead to force a Southern Vermont timeout after senior Brandon Chadwick (Chelmsford, Mass.) struck his fourth kill of the match. Endicott won the race to eight points, leading 8-6 as the two teams switched sides. Southern Vermont would tie the match at 10-10 and against 12-12 before finally taking the lead on a kill by senior middle Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.). The Gulls battled back to tie the match at 14-14 after back-to-back kills by seniors Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.) and Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.). Barahona put the Mountaineers back on top 15-14 but the match was knotted again following a Southern Vermont service error. Endicott handed the lead back on their own service miscue and an attack error by the Gulls ended the fifth set 17-15.
Netherton took over the match in the third set and went on to eclipse his career-high with 19 kills with six digs and two block assists. Coniglione, who moved to the outside for this match, turned in a career-high 15 kills with just one error on 33 swings (.424) while also assisting on two block. Senior right side Josh Anderson (La Canada, Calif.) finished second on the team with 17 kills, tying his career-high previously set against Milwaukee School of Engineering last March.
Another career-high was set by Endicott senior setter Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) who dished out 57 assists, four better than his previous high of 53 assists from just three weeks ago against Emerson. Roche also dumped three kills, served up two aces, tallied nine digs, and had both a solo and assisted block. Roche converted 57 of his 62 set attempts for kills (.919).
Defensively for the Gulls, senior libero Aaron Jessee (Okinawa, Japan) joined several of his teammates by breaking a career-high with 23 digs and tying his career-high with six assists. Jessee was perfect on serve-receive with 40 successful passes.
Southern Vermont got a match-high 30 kills from Barahona who committed just one error with a .509 hitting percentage. Setter Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.) totaled 50 assists and Keven Walley (Pico Rivera, Calif.) had a team-high 16 digs.
Endicott returns home for their invitational tournament on Friday and Saturday where they take on NECC rival Daniel Webster (Friday, 6PM), Sage (Saturday, 11AM), and #5 Rivier (Saturday, 1PM).
