#6 Men's Volleyball extend winning streak to 40 games

#6 Men's Volleyball extend winning streak to 40 games

(Nashua, New Hampshire) The sixth ranked Rivier University Men's Volleyball team ran their undefeated streak within the Great Northeast Athletic Conference to 40 tonight as they easily cruised past both Emerson College and Mount Ida College. The Raiders took both games by a 3-0 final and are now 20-5 overall in 2014 and 8-0 in the GNAC.

Game One: #6 Rivier University 3, Emerson College 0 (Final)

Seniors Aaron Almario (Alhambria, California) and Terence Matatall (Danville, NH) each recorded 8 kills as the Raiders dispatched the Lions in straight sets by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-19. Matatall also recorded 5 total blocks for the Raiders.

Both junior Shane Spellman (Norwich, Conn.) and junior Chris Markuson (Cupertino, California) added 7 kills while freshman Tyler Blank (Rochester, NY) racked up 33 assists and 5 digs in the win. Senior libero Matt Bynon (Burnt Hills, NY) was also solid along the defensive line as he registered 3 digs and sophomore Nick Ochoa (Whittier, California) added 4 digs for Rivier.

Jackson Wiley paced the offensive attack for Emerson as he finished with 6 kills. Connor Burton and Ben Hilman each had 4 kills in the loss. Devin McIntyre earned a .333 hitting percentage with 3 kills on 6 total attacks (1 error) and Jared Gross with the dig leader with 5. Brendan McGonigle recorded 18 assists for the Lions, who fall to 8-8 on the season and a 3-4 mark in the conference.

Game Two: #6 Rivier University 3, Mount Ida College 0 (Final)

In game two of the evening, the Raiders took three straight sets from Mount Ida by scores of 25-13, 25-23 and 25-12 for their 20th win of 2014. Junior Matt Tutino (Manorville, NY) led the way for Rivier with 10 kills and a .692 hitting percentage.

Freshman Ian Wolski (Westfield, Mass.) and sophomore Mike Hadder (Yucaipa, California) each added 7 kills and sophomore Keegan Moody (Cranston, RI) chipped in 4 kills on the evening. Hadder recorded the game's highest hitting percentage with .778. Freshman Matthew Ortiz (Los Angeles, California) had 15 assists to further the offensive effort by Rivier and a trio of Raiders – senior Daniel Elitharp (Eastport, NY), sophomore Mike Hovnanian (Methuen, Mass.) and freshman Matthew LaSance (Madison, Conn.) – had 5 digs apiece.

Mount Ida was paced by James Ames who collected five kills over the three set match. Dennis Miranda, Nick Schibi and Nick Mello also added four kills each in the loss. Michael McCullough had 11 assists and Jimmy Wessel was the game leader with 8 digs. The setback sees Mount Ida's 2014 record fall to 7-13 and are now 1-6 in the GNAC.

Rivier will return to GNAC action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to New Haven, Connecticut to battle both Albertus Magnus College and Emmanuel College in a GNAC Tri-Match hosted by the AMC Falcons.