BOSTON, Mass. – The Endicott men's volleyball team picked up a thrilling five-set victory over Emmanuel College on Thursday night by scores of 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-27, 15-12.
The Gulls' offense, which featured four student-athletes with 10 kills or more, produced 65 total kills and a .233 hitting percentage in tonight's win. John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) led the group with a team-high 19 putaways, while Troy Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.) notched 14 kills. Daniel Toth (Glenwood, N.J.) and Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.) rounded out the group with 13 kills and 10 kills, respectively.
Cameron Little (San Diego, Calif.) ran the attack with a career-high 59 assists, while Ryan Healy (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Osborne spearheaded the defensive efforts as the duo tied for the team-high in digs with 14 apiece.
In the fifth set trailing 9-8, Toth helped spark the Gulls' comeback with his 13th and final kill of the night off a feed from Little. Jeremy Doski (Sandy Hook, Conn.) followed with his sixth kill in the non-conference matchup (6 K, 1 E, 10 TA, .500) to make it 10-9 before both teams traded points to put the score at 13-12 in favor of Endicott.
Osborne then proceeded to give the Gulls a two-point cushion with his 19th kill of the contest, while Wasik and Seth Braquet (Destrehan, La.) locked up the win for Endicott on the next point with a huge block on Barrett Wingard's (York, Pa.) attack attempt.
Tonight's match featured 30 tied scores and 12 lead changes. The second set, which Endicott won 25-23, was the most competitive of the five as the Gulls and Saints played to nine ties and six lead changes before the Blue and Green pulled away with the score knotted up at 22-all.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Osborne fell one kill shy of tying his season-best performance of 20 kills vs. Lasell on Feb. 6 earlier this year.
- Endicott is 15-7 in the all-time series against Emmanuel, which dates back to 1/27/2003.
- The Gulls registered 10 blocks in tonight's win, their fifth double-digit block output this season.
- Little's 59 assists fell four shy of cracking the top-10 all-time list at Endicott.
FOR THE FOES
- Wingard tallied a match-high kills 25 kills and 17 digs in the loss (one shy of his season-best).
- Erik English (Simi Valley, Calif.) chipped in with 11 kills, and Kevin Orsley (San Jose, Calif.) contributed nine kills.
- Andres Saladrigas (Miami, Fla.) facilitated the offense with 47 assists.
- The Saints saw their four-match winning streak come to a close tonight.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (13-9) travels to Newbury on Tuesday, March 29 for a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) matchup at 7 p.m. Emmanuel (15-10) hosts Rivier University in a conference matchup next Tuesday at 7 p.m. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
