Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ROCHESTER, NY– The Johnson & Wales University men's volleyball team came away with a split of its Saturday matches on the second day of the Golden Flyer Invitational, hosted by Nazareth. The Wildcats rallied in their second contest to beat Elmira 3-2 (25-13,24-26, 27-29, 25-23, 20-18) JWU dropped its opening match of the day 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-25) to 10th-ranked Nazareth.
Records:
Johnson & Wales: 4-5
Statistical Leaders:
Brendan Baker (JWU): 16 kills, 14 digs vs. EC / 16 kills, 5 blocks vs. NC
Cameron Ponce (JWU): 55 assists, 9 digs, 7 kills vs. EC / 35 assists, 14 digs vs. NC
Kyle MacKnight (JWU): 14 kills vs. EC / 11 kills, vs. NC
Of Note:
JWU could have swept Elmira as its second and third-set losses were by the slimmest margins. The Soaring Eagles tied the fourth set, 22-22, but kills from Kyle MacKnight (East Northport, NY) and Matt LaVasseur (Salem, NH) helped JWU win the set, 25-23. The deciding set went down to the wire before Zach Turner (Coventry, RI) put JWU up 19-18 and setter Cameron Ponce (San Jose, Calif.) finished the match with a kill.
Five players had nine or more kills, led by Brendan Baker (Providence, RI) by Baker's 16-kill, 14-dig double-double. He was named to the all-tournament team. Kanila Chang (Orlando, Fla.) added 14 while MacKnight and Turner followed with 11 and 10 respectively. Ponce notched a career-high 55 assists to go along with nine digs and seven kills. The Wildcats had a .265-to-.161 hitting advantage as well as a 9-5 margin for blocks.
Against the hosts, the Wildcats went on a 9-1 run to turn a three-point deficit in the second set into a four-point advantage. The run was aided by six NC errors. JWU pulled within 24-23 in the third set but a blocking error put the Golden Flyers up 2-1 in the match. The Wildcats had six blocking errors and were out-dug 40-31.
Baker was one of two Wildcats to post double-digit kills against the Golden Flyers. He tallied a match-high 16 kills as well as a season-high five blocks. MacKnight had 11 kills. Ponce posted a 35-assist, 14-dig double-double.
Up Next:
JWU has another challenging tournament on the horizon when it travels to the Vasser Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
