Box Score The men's volleyball team notched an impressive 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-20) shutout victory against Anna Maria in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest on the road on Monday evening.
Freshman Kyle MacKnight (Northport, N.Y.) paced Johnson & Wales with 17 kills and seven digs while junior Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) tallied 13 kills and four blocks in the victory. Freshman Aseah Thomas (St. Thomas, USVI) notched 10 kills and eight digs while junior J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.) recorded 42 set assists for the Wildcats. JWU totaled an impressive .302 hitting percentage on the evening while holding the AMCATS to a .178 hitting percentage.
Freshman Dylan Copeland (Haverhill, Mass.) led the way for Anna Maria with seven kills and six digs while fellow rookie Michael Gaudelli (Hicksville, N.Y.) finished with 21 set assists and three digs in the loss for the AMCats.
The first set saw a back and forth battle early on before JWU pulled away late, taking their largest lead of the game at 21-16 after a kill by Espinola. The Wildcats then held on for the 25-22 victory.
In the second set, JWU raced out to the early 7-2 advantage after a kill by junior Andrew Lunn (Norwell, Mass.). The set was tied 14-14 before JWU used a 9-3 run, capped by a service ace from Thomas for the 23-17 advantage. The Wildcats increased their lead to 2-0 after a 25-21 lead in the second set.
It was more of the same in the third set as the Wildcats used a kill by MacKnight to take the early 11-6 lead. JWU then cruised for the 25-20 victory.
With the win Johnson & Wales improves to 16-10 overall and 8-5 in the GNAC while Anna Maria drops to 1-16 overall and 1-12 in conference action. JWU will return to action Tuesday, April 1st when they host Emerson for a GNAC contest starting at 7:00 p.m.
