Box Score The men's volleyball squad posted a 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-19) victory over Mount Ida in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Wildcat Center on Wednesday evening.
Johnson & Wales had a balanced attack as freshman Kanila Chang (Orlando, Fla.) had five kills and two digs while senior Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H.) notched five kills and a block in the win. Senior J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.) and Junior Raheem Malone (St. Thomas, USVI) tallied 13 and 16 set assists, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Junior James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.) led the way for Mount Ida with eight kills and three digs while fellow junior Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.) notched 17 set assists in the loss for the Mustangs.
Johnson & Wales took control early in the first set, jumping out to the 15-7 advantage on a kill by senior Don Dias (Scituate, R.I.). The Wildcats then cruised to the 25-11 win in the set and the 1-0 match advantage.
The host Wildcats used the strength of their bench in the second set battling back and forth early with the score tied 9-9. JWU then used a 8-3 run, capped by a kill from Chang to make the score 17-12. The Wildcats never looked back and took the 2-0 match lead with a 25-18 win in the set.
It was more of the same in the third set as the Wildcats capitalized on a block from Espinola and junior Rakeem Malone (St. Thomas, USVI) for the early 15-9 advantage. JWU led as many as nine points down the stretch before taking the 25-19 win in the set to grab the 3-0 shutout victory.
With the win Johnson & Wales improves to 11-2 on the year with a 2-0 mark in the GNAC while Mount Ida falls to 1-7 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Wildcats will return to action on Saturday, February 21st when they travel to Lasell for a GNAC contest starting at 1:00 p.m.
Check out the Highlights from the match here!
