BEVERLY, Mass. - Making their first ever New England Collegiate Conference Men's Volleyball Tournament, the No. 4 seeded Regis College Pride fell to No. 1 seed Endicott College 3-0 on Friday night. The Gulls used set scores of 25-21, 25-9, and 25-12 in the victory.
The Pride wrap up their season at 12-11 overall with a program record for wins in a season as well as the program's first season with a winning percentage over .500.
Regis fell behind early in the opening set but rallied back to make it an 18-15 game. A Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) kill got the Pride within two at 21-19 and a solo block by the freshman kept it a 23-21 contest a few points later. The Gulls held off the Pride, grabbing the final two points of the set for the 25-21 win.
In the second game, the Gulls raced out to an 8-2 lead and never looked back as the hosts hit .609 in the game with 16 kills en route to the 25-9 win.
Unfortunately for the Pride, the final set played out much the same as the Gulls took an early 12-5 lead, forcing a Regis timeout. Back-to-back kills from Bisnett cut the deficit to 20-11, but Endicott scored five of the final six points in the game to wrap up their third-straight trip to the NECC Championship match.
Bisnett had a match-high 12 kills with two digs, a solo block, and an ace. Regis setter Joe Hanrahan (Coventry, R.I.) had 18 assists and four digs while freshman Jon Fuentes (Downey, Calif.) contributed with 11 digs. Sophomore middle Joe Coye (Plaistow, N.H.) added six digs and two kills in the semifinal loss.
For the Gulls, John Osborne (Freehold, N.J.) had 11 kills as well with eight digs and three total blocks, including a solo stuff at the net. Joining Osborne on the outside was senior Brennan Lowe (Malibu, Calif.) who had six kills, while middle blockers Mike Coniglione (Glenville, N.Y.) and Daniel Toth (Vernon, N.J.) combined for a .414 hitting percentage in the match. Toth had a standout game in a starting role, striking eight kills on 15 swings with just one error while factoring in defensively with four block assists. Coniglione added seven kills and a block assist while both players served up an ace as well.
Distributing the attack for Endicott was sophomore setter Tyler Bacon (Cypress, Calif.) who had 33 assists and added two kills and eight digs to his stat line.
The Gulls will take on Daniel Webster College in the NECC Championship on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Portions of release courtesy of Endicott College Sports Information