NCAA TOURNAMENT: No. 19 Men's Volleyball Drops Back-And-Forth Five-Set Battle To No. 5 Cal Lutheran, 3-2
NCAA TOURNAMENT PRESS CONFERENCE
HOBOKEN, N.J. — The No. 19 Endicott men's volleyball team fell in a five-set thriller to No. 5 Cal Lutheran, 3-2, by scores of 14-25, 25-19, 30-28, 15-25 and 13-15 in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at Canavan Arena on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology.
Aidan Iacovelli (South Windsor, Conn.) led the way for Endicott with a match-high 24 kills as the senior hit .513 in the match. He also finished with six digs and a block assist.
Jake Laborde (Brookline, N.H.) added 19 putaways in addition to six digs, three block assists, and two service aces (match-high).
Aaron Bennett (Haverhill, Mass.) rounded-out the double-digit attackers with 11 kills (.500). In the middle, Jackson Gray (Glenmont, N.Y.) and Thomas Matchett (North Smithfield, R.I.) added seven and three kills apiece. Gray finished with three block assists and a service ace as well, while Matchett had one block solo and four block assists.
Both Ethan Norris (Hollis, N.H.) and Matty Tiernan (Bradford, R.I.) ran the offense throughout the match with 25 and 41 assists apiece. Norris also finished with five kills, three digs, and two block assists.
Defensively, Dan Battista (Bethlehem, N.Y.) recorded a match-high 17 digs.
Today's match featured 33 ties (0-15-7-2-8) and 10 lead changes (0-3-2-1-4).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott is now 1-3 all-time against Cal Lutheran (first-ever meeting in the NCAA Tournament).
- With his two aces, Labrode now has 90 career aces, which ranks ninth all-time.
- Iacovelli becomes the eigth student-athlete in program history to record over 1,000 career points.
- The 23 wins this season are tied for third most in a single-season.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 19 Endicott sees its season come to a close with a final record of 23-4. No. 5 Cal Lutheran advances to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and will take on No. 10 MIT, tomorrow, Saturday, April 18 at 6:30 PM.
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(Photo Credit - Dave Janosz)