BEVERLY, Mass. – For the second time this week, the Endicott men's volleyball team took down NECC foe Southern Vermont in straight sets as the Gulls won 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-17) behind 11 kills from senior outside hitter Brennan Lowe (Malibu, Calif.) and another double digit kill effort from junior middle Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.) who struck 10.
Endicott (11-4, 6-0 NECC) won their fifth straight match, four of which were over league opponents, and improved to 12-0 all-time versus Southern Vermont. The Mountaineers (5-10 , 2-4 NECC) lost their fourth match in-a-row despite a combined 19 kills from junior outside hitter Anthony Barahona (Redlands, Calif.) and sophomore middle Joey Dighton (Riverside, Calif.).
Playing in his first match since sustaining an injury back on January 31st, junior setter Carter Roche (Clifton Park, N.Y.) returned with 15 assists, two kills, and two digs while fellow setter Tyler Bacon (Cypress, Calif.) dished out a team-high 21 helpers with five digs and two assisted blocks in the victory.
The Gulls also saw junior middle Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.) and outsides Josh Anderson (La Canada, Calif.) and John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) get involved offensively with six, five, and five kills, respectively. With Endicott holding a two-set lead, freshman middle Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.) helped the Blue and Green finish the match with four kills on six attempts with no errors while adding a block.
Defensively for Endicott, Osborne led all players with 10 digs and suffered no receptions errors on 28 serve-receive attempts. Lowe added eight digs to his strong offensive numbers.
For the Mountaineers, sophomore setter Herson Canta (Los Angeles, Calif.) led his visitors with eight digs while dishing out a match-high 25 assists. Naphat Suvaroporn (Los Angeles, Calif.), Anthony Ayala (Pico Rivera, Calif.), and Florentino Escovedo (Fresno, Calif.) each factored into Southern Vermont's defensive game with a combined 20 digs.
Southern Vermont freshman middle Caleb Odom (Redlands, Calif.) played a strong match with six kills as well as two blocks, one solo and one assisted.
Endicott hits the road on Tuesday, March 5th when they take on fellow NECC unbeaten Daniel Webster in Nashua, New Hampshire starting at 7:00 pm. The Gulls and Eagles met once already this season, a non-conference showdown, as Endicott won 3-1 in the final match of the Live Free or Die Invitational.
Southern Vermont visits Ramapo on Saturday, March 9th at 3:00 pm.
