Johnson & Wales Men's Volleyball Takes 4th At Vassar Invitational

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – The Johnson & Wales University men's volleyball team notched a fourth place finish at the Vassar Invitational, held at the Walker Field House this weekend.

On Friday, JWU dropped a 3-1 decision against host and eventual champion Vassar. The Wildcats then wrapped up the evening with a 3-0 setback against Nazareth, currently ranked No. 10 in the North Eastern Collegiate Volleyball Association. In the second day of the tournament, JWU got a 3-0 win against Elms before finishing with a tough 3-2 loss to third ranked Philadelphia Biblical.

Johnson & Wales sophomore Petar Yanakiev (Varna, Bulgaria) was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 3.7 kills and 1.5 digs per game. Yanakiev recorded 18 kills against Vassar and Philadelphia Biblical. Sophomore Robert Slough (Buffalo, N.Y.) averaged 8.0 set assists, 1.0 digs and 0.8 blocks per game for the Wildcats while junior Eric Minnich (Concord, Calif.) had 2.2 kills and 0.9 digs in the four matches this weekend.

Johnson & Wales is now 5-10 for the season and will return to action on Wednesday, February 24th when they host Lasell in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest, starting at 7:00 p.m.

Friday, February 19th
No. 7 Vassar def. JWU, 3-1 (30-24, 30-22, 30-32, 30-16)
No 10 Nazareth def. JWU, 3-0 (30-14, 30-21, 30-15)

Saturday, February 20th
JWU def. Elms, 3-0 (30-28, 30-22, 30-20)
No. 3 Philadelphia Biblical def. JWU, 3-2 (30-19, 29-31, 27-30, 30-19, 15-10)