CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Endicott men's volleyball team traveled to Elms on Saturday afternoon for a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) matchup. Highlighted by a match high 11 kills by junior John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) the Gulls recorded the 3-0 victory. Endicott has now swept five straight NECC opponents in straight sets as they improve to 6-7 (5-0 NECC) while Elms falls to 2-13 (0-4 NECC).
Endicott will take the court next on Tuesday, March 3rd as they host conference opponent Southern Vermont for a 7:00 p.m. start time. Elms will play next on Thursday, March 5th as they host Mount Ida for a 7:00 p.m. start. Endicott is now 25-3 all-time with Elms as they notch their seventh consecutive victory over the conference opponent.
Overall the Blue and Green recorded an impressive hitting percentage with a .342 mark while holding Elms to just .038. With the 11 kills from Osborne on just 13 attempts in only two sets, the junior led with an impressive .769 mark. Junior Cameron Little (San Diego, Calif.) played one of his best matches of his career boasting a match high 37 assists to help lead to the 40 overall kills by the Gulls.
Senior Kristian Catalan (Sudbury, Mass.) led both sides with 16 digs while freshman Troy Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.) followed with 12. Endicott worked hard defensively totaling five solo blocks and eight block assists, led by a match high four solo blocks from junior Alex Wasik (Milford, Mass.). With their efforts the Blue and Green were able to hold the Blazers to just 20 kills on 80 attempts. The kill leader for Elms was freshman Daniel Bondarovsky (Rio de Janerio, Brazil) with his six but Endicott worked hard to contain the freshman as he went for 34 attempts.
Also controlling the stat sheet, Wasik came in right behind Osborne as he recorded nine kills on just 12 attempts for a .750 hitting percentage. Overall Endicott shared the wealth as eight different Gulls recorded kills.
The first set finished with Endicott at 25 while holding the Blazers to 15. The Blue and Green went 13-29 (.276) while Elms struggled at 7-26 (.115). In the second, the Gulls controlled almost every play holding the conference foes to nine points while allowing just four kills on 21 attempts. The second set was the strongest for Endicott has they went 15-22 for an impressive .636 mark. The third set was a bit tighter with the 25-21 final as Endicott led with 12 kills on 28 attempts while the Blazers struggled with just 9 kills on 33 attempts.
