WESTON, Mass. – Regis College used set scores of 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, and 26-24 to pick up their first New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) win of the year with a 3-1 victory over Elms College on Friday night in men's volleyball action. The Pride move to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the NECC, while Elms falls to 2-6 and 0-1 in league games.
This marks the first win for the Pride against Elms in the five years of the program. Regis had been 0-8 against the Blazers entering tonight's matchup.
Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) led the Pride with 18 kills on the night to go with a pair of aces and eight digs. Jon Fuentes (Downey, Calif.) joined him in double-figures with 12 kills, while Joe Coye (Plaistow, N.H.) added nine kills and nine digs in the win. Freshman Zach Sindoni (Haverhill, Mass.) had five kills to go with a match-high 43 assists, 11 digs, and eight service aces.
For Elms, Bryson Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) led the way with 17 kills and added a team-high 11 digs and a pair of blocks. Angel Castro (Carolina, Puerto Rico) added 15 kills and six digs, while Kordel Latimer (Lynn, Mass.) had six kills and six digs. Kevin Welsh (Wilbraham, Mass.) dished out 39 assists and added three digs in the setback.
In the opening set, Regis jumped out to a 5-0 lead taking advantage of three errors by the Blazers and kills from Bisnett and Fuentes. The Pride would stretch their lead out to 13-7 later in the set, before three-straight points by the Blazers made it a 13-10 game. After the two teams traded points, Sindoni stepped to the line and registered back-to-back service aces to make it a 17-11 game. Elms would only get within five through the rest of the set as Regis took game one, 25-20.
The second set started much the same as Regis took a 4-0 lead following a Joe Coye kill. Another pair of Sindoni aces would make it an 8-3 game later in the set, but three-straight errors by the Pride let Elms back into the contest as the Blazers cut the lead to 12-11. The Pride responded with an 8-3 run to take a 20-14 advantage and never looked back as they grabbed a 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-19 win.
Elms came out the aggressor in the third game as they took an early 9-4 lead following a kill by Angel Castro. Regis rallied to take an 11-10 lead following a Bryan Camillo (Lawrence, Mass.) kill, and the Blazers answered with a 7-1 run capped off by a pair of Bryson Rainey kills to make it 17-12 and force a Regis timeout. The Pride would keep it close and only trailed 24-22, but Rainey registered his ninth kill of the third set to finish off the Pride and force a fourth game.
As they had done in game three, the Blazers jumped out to an early 8-3 lead following a Pride error. Regis slowly chipped away and a Sindoni kill made it an 11-8 game, but Elms continued to control the pace and took a 16-11 lead after another Rainey kill. The Pride continued to fight and a Sindoni service ace cut the deficit to 17-16. The two teams traded points as Regis could not tie the score, until a Bisnett kill followed by an Elms attack error tied the game at 22-all.
Elms took a 24-22 lead late following back-to-back kills from Angel Castro and Ian Isgut (San Juan, Puerto Rico), but a Bisnett kill and two-straight errors by the Blazers gave the Pride a 25-24 lead and forced an Elms timeout. Out of the break, Sindoni stepped to the service line and registered his eighth ace of the night to give Pride the 3-1 victory.
Both teams return to action on Saturday as the Pride will host St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn at 10:00 a.m. followed by CCRI at 12:00 p.m. Elms travels to Emmanuel for a 3:30 p.m. non-league game.