Balanced Effort Leads Men’s Volleyball Past Daniel Webster, 3-0

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's volleyball team used a balanced offensive effort to defeat Daniel Webster, 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-18), on Thursday night inside MacDonald Gymnasium. Endicott hit .368 as a team and also saw five student-athletes record five or more kills in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win over the Eagles.

Gulls' senior John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) tied for the match-high in kills with nine to go along with eight digs, two service aces, and a perfect 11-for-11 showing on serve-receive. Daniel Toth (Glenwood, N.J.) contributed eight kills on 12 swings for a .583 hitting percentage, while Troy Riorden (Fairport, N.Y.), Seth Braquet (Destrehan, La.), and Tyler Willgoos (Newington, Conn.) aided the attack with five kills apiece.

Cameron Little (San Diego, Calif.) ran the offense for two sets, accumulating 20 assists on 39 attempts (.513 percentage), and Devin Racey (Voorhoeesville, N.Y.) closed out the final set with 12 assists.

Tied 18-18 in the first set, Toth rattled off back-to-back service aces to give the Gulls their first lead (20-18) of the match after Endicott tied the score five times and also brought the set within a one-point differential on 13 separate occasions.

Following the two service aces, an attack error by the Eagles and a kill from Osborne pushed the gap to 22-18 before Daniel Webster called a timeout to halt momentum. The Eagles received a putaway from Mason directly out of the timeout, but both teams traded points the rest of the way for the eventual 25-22 victory for Endicott.

Set two only featured three tied scores and one lead change as Little broke open a 9-9 matchup by holding serve for eight straight points to give the Gulls a 17-9 gap on the scoreboard. Toth spearheaded Endicott's offense for the remainder of the set by compiling two kills and a service ace to earn the 25-13 win.

The Gulls went on to put the match away in set three behind a set-high 17 kills, which included four putaways from Jacob Newman (Chester, N.H.).

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott is now 20-0 in the all-time series versus Daniel Webster.
• The Gulls are also 2-0 against the Eagles this season.
• Endicott fell one kill (46) shy of tying its match-high for kills of 47 in a three-set match tonight. That mark was set against Daniel Webster earlier this season on February 7.
• Chandler Tayek (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) notched seven digs in tonight's win. Tayek now has five or more digs in seven matches this season.
• Tonight's win featured five student-athletes with four or more digs.

FOR THE FOES

• Richmond Iturralde Zavalza (Tucson, Ariz.) guided Daniel Webster's attack with nine kills on 14 swings (.643 hitting percentage).
• Ryan Howdeshell (Fairbanks, Alaska) added seven kills, while Suanoa Afoa (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Darrien Mason (Farmington, Conn.) chipped in with five kills each.
• Tommy Reyes (Providence, R.I.) rounded out the offense with four kills.
  
• Nate Makaiwi (Las Vegas, Nev.) dished out 23 assists and registered a match-high nine digs in the loss.
• Reyes went 20-for-21 on serve-receive (.952 percentage) and also had six digs.
• Howdeshell finished second on the team in digs with eight.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (8-6, 3-0 NECC) will play two matches in the Springfield College Invitational this Saturday. The Gulls will take on the host Pride at 3 p.m. before wrapping up the weekend tri-match against Stevenson at 5 p.m. Springfield is currently ranked No. 1 in the American Volleyball Coaches (AVCA) Top-15 national poll, while Stevenson is slotted No. 8 in the country. Daniel Webster (7-8, 2-1 NECC0 will also partake in a tri-match this Saturday against Newbury (11 AM) and Wentworth (1 PM). 

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