WESTON, Mass.—The Mount Ida Mustangs battled a tough Regis College team Saturday, but given the Pride's effort Mount Ida defeated Regis College 3-1.
Mount Ida Game 1 (25-16)
Regis College opened to 6-1 lead before Thomas Belton (Springfield, Mass./Springfield) cut the lead (6-3) with two kills assisted by Shane Wilson (Gloucester, Mass./Gloucester). Regis' Chris Tran (Quincy, Mass.) and Drew Wilder each helped the Pride with serving aces to give Regis College a 10-8 lead, before Belton and Spencer Hastings (Orlando, Fla./Timber Creak) each earned kills to take a 12-10 lead.
Mount Ida's Franklin McCaffrey (East Greenwich, RI/East Greenwich) would help the Mustangs with a service ace before Hastings and McCoy Arnoux (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) would lead a 6-0 rally.
Down 20-15, Regis' Si Pan Leong was faced with the daunting task of bringing the Pride back into contention. McCoy would again show up for the Mustangs to capture a 23-15 lead for Mount Ida.
Stefan Todorovich helped Regis College with a point (23-16), but Belton returned on the following play to score Mount Ida's final two points of the first set.
Mount Ida Game 2 (25-15)
Following a point by Ryan Faer (Newton, Mass./Cambridge), and three by Belton, Belton gave Regis College the ball and point after his first serving error of the set. Down 12-7, Regis College was forced to call its first timeout of the second set.
The consistent combo of Wilson and Hastings continued its rally of points to a 14-10 lead for the Mustangs. Regis College did not help its cause following a receiving and ball-handling error. With a seven-point lead following three errors by the Pride, Mount Ida's Geoff Carlson (Falls Village, Conn./Housatonic) committed his first service error of the set.
A nine-point lull in play by Regis College allowed the Mount Ida lead to quickly increase to 22-13. Two attacking errors by Mount Ida helped Regis College, but with a kill by Belton put the Mustangs at game point. A long attack attempt by Dan Berdichevsky (Wayland, Mass.) gave Mount Ida the winning point.
Regis College Game 3 (25-21)
Mount Ida started set three up 7-2 before Hastings hit an attack long to give Regis College a point. With Leong serving for Regis College, a played ball on the back line of the Mustang defense was mishandled give Leong the service ace for the Pride.
Tran had a kill to the heart of the Mount Ida defense to cut the lead for Regis College (10-5). He would serve two aces to come within three points of the Mustang lead. A hard effort by James Guaragna to dig two kill attempts eventually led to a block assist by Regis' Andrew Carroll (Natick, Mass.) and Todorovic.
With a one-point lead (11-10), Tran served the Pride into its first lead of the third set. An errant attack by Berdichevsky gave Mount Ida its lead back (13-12), but Wilson had a service error to tie the game at 14-14.
Neither team would allow much of an advantage, as the two programs would go point-for-point for the next three points. A block solo by Todorvich allowed the opening for Regis' next lead. Tran again returned for the Pride with a service ace at 22-20, forcing Mount Ida to take a timeout. Carroll and Todorovich held down the frontline notching the 25-21 game three victory.
Mount Ida Game four (25-17)
Tran was clearly the spark for the Regis College offense, cheering his teammates to a 5-4 lead. A frustrated Mustang team emerged from its timeout with Hastings firing a laser kill just inside the Pride backline.
Hastings began a mini point rally for Mount Ida, with several Regis players committing errors through the last two points. Holding a 14-11 lead, Mount Ida's Arnoux returned from his earlier set dominance to score the Mustangs 15th point. Todorovich found the ball to block it for a 17-15 (Mount Ida) game.
An error by Berdichevsky would end the game at 25-17, following Mount Ida's eight-point rally.