Men's Volleyball: Bucklin, Raiders take down MIT

(Cambridge, Mass.) In a battle between two programs who sit just outside the AVCA Top-15, the Rivier University Men's Volleyball team topped MIT in four sets on the road this evening in Cambridge. The Raiders are now 22-6 overall and winners of their last 11 while the Engineers fall to 15-7 on the season.

Rivier won the four-set match by set scores of 22-25, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-19.

Sophomore David Smith (Clinton, Ohio) continues his red-hot season as he led the way with a season-high 19 kills and a .517 hitting percentage. Senior Grant Andler (Chicago, Ill.) was also outstanding as he contributed 15 kills on a .542 hitting percentage and junior Khaynen Yocca (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 9 kills for the Raiders. Senior setter Garrett Bucklin (Jamestown, R.I.) directed the Rivier offense to a .392 hitting percentage with 55 assists to go along with his nine digs in the game. Sophomore Cam Roth (Coventry, R.I.) patrolled the backline with 17 digs while hammering down nine kills and senior Kyle Heidler (Hampstead, N.H.) scooped up 12 digs in the win.

MIT was paced by Tavish Smith, who led the team with 18 kills, and Skyler Kaufman added 11 kills and a .429 hitting percentage. Yize Dong dished out 35 helpers and Christopher Cheung picked up eight digs in the contest. Andrew Hall also reached double-figures with 10 kills while racking up three total blocks for the Engineers.

Rivier will close out the 2018 regular season this Sunday afternoon as they travel to Newton, Mass. for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tri-match at Mount Ida College with Emmanuel College.