BOSTON, Mass. – Regis College could not contain the offense of Wentworth, as the Leopards defeated the Pride, 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14), Saturday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference men's volleyball match at Tansey Gym.
Matt Ferrara (Haverhill, Mass.) led the Pride with eight kills and five service aces, while Drew Beimel (Redondo Beach, Calif.) finished with seven kills on 15 attempts with just one attack error for a .400 hitting percentage. Sebastian Valdes (Diamond Bar, Calif.) accumulated 25 assists, and Zabdiel Frias (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) led the defense with seven digs.
Wentworth scored the first four points of the match and maintained that advantage early in the first set. The Leopards extended their lead thanks to a 7-2 scoring run, led by Brian Drouse with two kills, and then they closed out the set by collecting the final six points, featuring four kills by Ryan Engel.
The Leopards opened the second set with six of the first seven points, but the Pride bounced back with five straight points, including three aces from Ferrara. Wentworth scored the next six points to reclaim the lead, including two kills by Garrett Vermeulen, and the home team would maintain that advantage through the rest of the season set.
The teams split the first 12 points of the third set before a kill and a service ace by Drouse allowed the Leopards to pull ahead, 10-6. A 5-1 scoring run extended the lead for Wentworth to 16-9, and then the Leopards finished off the set and the match with a 7-2 scoring run, capped by a block by Ian Carlson and Kevin Devine.
Engel led the Leopards with 11 kills, plus he earned six digs, while Drouse finished with eight kills on 11 attack attempts without an error for a .727 hitting percentage. As a team, Wentworth did not make an attack error until the third set, completing the match with a .649 team hitting percentage (39-2-57).
Wentworth (18-10, 11-3 GNAC) finished the regular season in second place in the GNAC standings and will host a semifinal match in the GNAC Tournament next Thursday, April 11.
Regis (10-15, 3-11 GNAC) ends up tied with Emerson for sixth place in the final regular season standings, but the Lions earn the sixth and final spot in the GNAC Tournament by winning the tiebreaker of most sets won between the two teams in their head-to-head meetings (5-4). The Pride expect to return an experienced squad next year, as Beimel is the only player lost to graduation.