Third time's a charm for MIT, Gulls' streak halted

Box Score

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott College men’s volleyball team, ranked number six in the nation and winners of its last 12 games, had beaten MIT by the score of 3-2 in each of the squad’s two earlier matchups this season. The Engineers made sure that wasn’t going to be the case on Wednesday. Behind set scores of 30-21, 31-29 and 30-23, the 13th-ranked visitors from Cambridge rattled off a crucial NECVA New England win to improve their record to 22-7 overall and 10-2 in league play. Endicott slips to 18-5 and 8-1 against divisional foes with the setback.

14 attack errors resulted in a -.139 percentage in an opening set 30-21 loss for the Gulls. MIT, on the other hand, posted 16 kills and just five errors (.306) in the first frame victory. The visitor’s Patrick Vatterott (St. Louis, Mo.) and Michael Demyttenaere (Brussels, Belgium) led the charge as they scored four kills apiece and combined for four blocks in game one.

A see-saw affair in the second set eventually sided with the Engineers as MIT overcame a late 27-26 deficit to rally to the 31-29 bonus win. Freshman Matt Hohenberger (St. Louis, Mo.) posted seven kills on 10 swings with just one error in the frame, while David Thomas (Carlsbad, Calif.) had six kills to go along with two blocks. Eric Reuland (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) notched seven digs in the winning set. Endicott’s \#A.J. Witkofsky\# (Scotia, N.Y.) did his best to keep Endicott close in the frame, as he had six kills, three digs, one block and one ace in game two.

MIT opened up a 6-2 lead en route to a 30-23 game three sweep. A balanced attack featured Thomas and Hohenberger posting four and three kills, respectively, while Vatterott had three solo blocks. Witkofsky and \#Zeke Kubisch\# (Bethlehem, N.Y.) each had four kills in the frame for the hosts.

David Thomas finished the night with 13 kills, three blocks and two digs while Matt Hohenberger had 12 kills and just two errors in the win. Patrick Vatterott had 10 kills and six total blocks while junior setter Tim Lee (Natick, Mass.) handed out 41 assists.

Endicott got 14 kills from Witkofsky and 10 from senior \#John Emery\# (Westford, Mass.). \#David Lowe\# (Burnt Hill, N.Y.) notched 11 digs while setter \#Ben Foster\# (Penfield, N.Y.) edged his opposing counterpart with 42 assists in the losing effort.

Gone is the 12-match winning streak that dated back to February 9th, and with it goes a comfortable home-stand in which Endicott played nine of its last 11 contests on home court. The Gulls get right back to work, however, as the Blue and Green hit the road on Thursday for a matchup with Daniel Webster College. MIT takes on those same Eagles on Friday evening in Nashua, N.H. 

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