BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's volleyball remained unbeaten in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play after the Gulls upended Newbury 3-0 (25-8, 25-14, 25-10) on Wednesday evening inside MacDonald Gymnasium. It was Endicott's fourth consecutive conference victory and fifth straight win overall.
Junior outside hitter Troy Rioden (Fairport, N.Y.) paced Endicott with a match-high 10 kills while senior middle Daniel Toth (Glenwood, N.J.) and freshman outside hitter Bryn Lipton (Rockfort, Ill.) complemented Riorden's effort with eight kills apiece. As a team, the Blue and Green hit .538 with 45 kills and 10 hitting errors on 65 attempts.
Distributing the ball for Endicott were sophomore setters Devin Racey (Voorheesville, N.Y.) and Adam Dake (Victor, N.Y.) as well as freshman Chad Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.) who combined for 36 set assists to 11 different hitters.
Defensively, sophomore libero Ryan Healy (Fair Lawn, N.J.) led the way with eight digs while Toth and freshman opposite Tim Fieseler (Bridgewater, N.J.) were a presence at the net with three and two block assists, respectively. As a team, Endicott held Newbury to a -.018 hitting percentage.
In both the first and second sets, Newbury was able to gain 2-0 leads but Endicott quickly regained momentum by orchestrating a six-point swing early in set one and four-point run in the middle of set two which helped the Gulls get separation.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Troy Riorden's 10 kills matched his season-high previously set on January 28 in a five-set win over MIT.
- Lipton has registered eight kills in three consecutive matches, all victories over conference opponents.
- Endicott's middles combined to go 13-1-18 (.667) with six block assists
- The Gulls continued their recent streak of winning matches without dropping a set. It is now up to five matches and 15 sets dating back to February 8.
FOR THE FOES
- Freshman middle Matt Sepe (Cranston, R.I.) and junior outside Joshua Thorne (Oxford, Conn.) matched for a team-high four kills.
- Freshman setter Oscar Chavez (Independence, Ore.) reached double figures with 10 assists.
- Defensively, the Nighthawks got a team-high three digs from Thorne while sophomore outside Mateo Rocco (Brooklyn, N.Y.) blocked two Endicott swings.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (9-8, 4-0 NECC) travels to NECC foe Southern Vermont next Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. match start. Newbury hosts a tri-match with league rival Regis and Mount Ida starting at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 4.
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