Middles Shine as Men’s Volleyball Sweeps Emerson

BOSTON, Mass. – The Rivier men's volleyball team kicked off its three-match weekend in Boston by taking down Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponent, Emerson, by way of the sweep on Friday night at Brown and Plofker Gym.

The Raiders, who entered the NCAA Division III Region 1 rankings this week, downed the Lions by set scores of 25-23, 25-17, 25-21 to improve to 16-12 (9-3 GNAC). Emerson now sits at 4-16 (2-10 GNAC).

Narrowly leading 12-11 in the first set, Riv used back-to-back kills to increase their advantage to three points and force the Lions into a timeout. After Emerson battled back to tie the match at 17-all, Rivier pulled ahead on a side-out kill from Chris Lezon to retake the lead. The Raiders would hang tough through the remainder of the frame to take a 1-0 lead as Sokunbuth Ly's kill at set point sealed the game.

Both teams battled through four tie scores in the early going of the second set before Rivier pulled ahead, 12-8. Riv's lead later ballooned to seven on a Ryan Peace kill making it 21-14. Peace would finish with three kills in the second.

Despite a 10-6 lead for the hosts in the third, the Raiders rallied for five-straight points to take an 11-10 edge. After a kill by Lezon made it 12-11, three straight Emerson errors made it 15-11 in favor of Rivier. Lezon would cap off the match with a kill on a set from Neil Rea to ensure a conference victory during the playoff push.

Rea had 31 assists in the victory while notching a team-best six digs. The starting middles, Lezon and Peace, had 12 and nine kills, respectively, while both hitting above .500 in the outing. Lezon tacked on one solo block and three block assists. Middle Matthew McClosky subbed in and notched three kills on seven errorless attempts to hit at a .429 clip.

The Emerson offense was limited to a .065 hitting percentage in the loss.

Rivier will be back in Boston on Saturday, April 6 in a GNAC tri-match hosted by Wentworth. The Raiders will face Regis (Mass.) at 1:00 p.m. before playing the host Leopards at 3:00 p.m. at Tansey Gymnasium, which will conclude the regular-season.