Men’s Volleyball Drops Elms, 3-1

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Fueled by a 14-kill performance by junior outside hitter Matthew McCloskey, the Rivier men's volleyball team bounced back with a four-set victory over Elms in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Tuesday evening at Picknelly Arena.

The Raiders won by scores of 25-15, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20 to improve to 7-10 (2-3 GNAC). The Blazers fell to 4-15 (1-4 GNAC) with the loss.

Rivier took an early 9-5 lead in the first set on a McCloskey kill. The Raiders' lead was propelled to five points at 15-10 thanks to three consecutive Blazer errors, forcing the hosts to call a timeout. Out of the break, McCloskey blasted in two service aces, followed by a kill from sophomore Aidan Combs, to make it an eight-point game. First-year Anderson Arias came in to serve and dropped in an ace to make it 20-11, leading to Elms' second timeout of the frame. Three Elms errors and two Rivier kills closed out the set. Senior Bassam Awde led the offensive charge in the first, notching two kills at a .667 clip while sophomore Racine Camara posted four digs.

The second set saw 11 tie scores and three lead changes, but ultimately the home side broke away to tie the match, 1-1. Camara posted back-to-back kills to put the Raiders up late, 22-21, but errors became costly for Riv. McCloskey posted four kills, hitting .500, in the second while Awde posted three block assists.

Camara and McCloskey teamed up for seven kills in the first 20 points of the third as Elms was forced to call a timeout trailing 13-7. The Raiders never let go of the lead to cruise to a 2-1 advantage in the match. Sophomore Justin Barish recorded 12 assists in the set as the Raiders hit .400 as a team.

Early in the fourth, Awde notched a kill to make it 5-5 before Camara notched an ace to hand Rivier the lead. Despite both teams trading points, Rivier was able to fend off Elms' attempts to regain the lead, pulling away on back-to-back kills from Awde and McCloskey, followed by a Blazer error, making it 19-16. Despite a late push to force a fifth set, the match ended with a Barish kill. Sophomore Tyler Dickinson was perfect with four kills on four attempts with a block assist in the final set.

McCloskey finished with 14 kills at a .321 clip while registering a team-high four aces. Camara finished with a double-double, notching 10 kills and 14 digs. Dickinson and Awde finished with the same stat line on offense, notching six kills at a .417 clip. Barish (25)and first-year Cade Barron (16) combined for 41 assists. As a team, Rivier hit .220 while keeping Elms to a .077 hitting percentage.

Next up, Rivier heads down to Newton, Mass. on Saturday, March 22 for a GNAC tri-match with Dean (1:00 p.m.) and the hosts, Lasell (3:00 p.m.) at the Lasell Athletic Center.