Men's Volleyball splits GNAC Tri-Match this afternoon

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Men's Volleyball team split a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tri-match this afternoon as they fell to Wentworth Institute of Technology (3-1) and defeated Mount Ida College (3-0) at the Muldoon Gymnasium. The split sends the Raiders' overall record to 12-9 with a 2-3 conference mark. Wentworth, who defeated Mount Ida in the middle match, is now 14-6 / 6-1 GNAC and Mount Ida falls to 6-13 / 1-4 GNAC.

Game One: Wentworth Institute of Technology 3, Rivier University 1 (Final)

Wentworth used a .414 team hitting percentage as they took down Rivier in the opening match of the day's tri-match. The Leopards won by set scores of 25-18, 27-25, 23-25 and 25-21.

Junior Ian Wolski (Westfield, Mass.) paced the Rivier offense as he hammered down a team high 14 kills. Sophomore Matt Heckler (Simi Valley, Calif.) swung at a .476 clip on his way to 11 kills. Senior Mike Hadder (Yucaipa, Calif.) added 12 kills on the morning while junior Tyler Blank (Rochester, N.Y.) directed the attack with 45 assists. Senior Nick Ochoa (Whittier, Calif.) chipped in with six digs.

Wentworth was led by Sean Mullen – 14 kills, .778 hitting percentage – and Alex Potts, who contributed 14 kills and a .550 hitting percentage. Two other Leopards reached the double-digit kill count as both Ollie OShman and Jake Reed had 10. Kevin McPeek dished out 45 assists and Potts finished with 8 total blocks. Mullen ended up leading the defensive effort with 10 digs.

Game Three: Rivier University 3, Mount Ida College 0 (Final)

The Raiders bounced back to finish the afternoon with a straight set win over Mount Ida with scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-21.

The balanced attack for Rivier was led by freshman Nathan Kunkel (Plum Borough, Pa.) who registered 9 kills and a .438 hitting percentage. Classmate Khayen Yocca (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added eight kills and six total blocks with sophomore Garrett Bucklin (Jamestown, R.I.) also contributing eight kills to the win. Junior Matt LaSance (Madison, Conn.) recorded 33 assists while Bucklin finished with 10 digs. Hadder also had an outstanding afternoon along the net with six kills and a .545 hitting percentage.

The Mustangs had a pair of 10 kill performances from Peter Griffenkranz and James Ames. Jimmy Wessel added 23 assists and Ames was the team leader with 10 digs.

Rivier will enjoy the Spring Break week and will not return to action until the host Emmanuel College on March 15th.