Box Score Senior Shawn Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) recorded a match-high 14 kills and added seven digs to lead the men's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-19) win over Emerson in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Wildcat Center on Tuesday night. The win completed the season sweep of Emerson for JWU and gave the Wildcats victories in seven of their last nine matches.
Sophomore Kyle Eva (Charlestown, R.I.) tallied 10 kills and four blocks while junior J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.) recorded 40 set assists and seven digs for the Wildcats. Junior Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) had seven kills while sophomore Rakeem Malone (St. Thomas, USVI) and sophomore Ryan Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) each had six kills in the victory.
Sophomore Bill Hillman (South Pasadena, Calif.) and fellow sophomore Jackson Wiley (Los Angeles, Calif.) each had six kills in the setback for Emerson.
Johnson & Wales raced out to the early lead in the first set and took their largest lead of the game when a kill by freshman Kyle MacKnight (Northport, N.Y.) made the score 17-10. The Wildcats then cruised to the 25-15 victory for the 1-0 advantage.
The second set saw the Wildcats take a 15-8 lead after an Emerson attacking error. JWU never looked back as the 25-13 win increased the match lead to 2-0.
The third set saw a back and forth battle early on with the score knotted 13-13 after a kill by Eva. The Wildcats then used an 8-2 run, capped by back-to-back service aces by MacKnight for the 21-15 lead. JWU then cruised to the 25-19 win to secure the 3-0 victory.
With the victory Johnson & Wales improves to 17-10 overall and 9-5 in the GNAC while Emerson falls to 9-12 overall and 4-8 in conference action. JWU will return to action Saturday, April 5th when they host Mount Ida and Emmanuel for a GNAC tri-match starting at 11:00 a.m.
