Pride Unable to Stop Wildcats in Conference Loss

WESTON, Mass. – Regis College competed with Johnson & Wales University throughout the night, especially in the second and third sets, but the Wildcats were able to pull out a 3-0 victory (25-17, 25-21, 25-22) over the Pride Tuesday night in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference men's volleyball match at Higgins Court.

Inelson Alves (Brockton, Mass.) finished with seven kills, three service aces, and six digs, while Jack Wizboski (Townsend, Mass.) also collected seven kills. Brendan Lam (Rockville, Md.) accumulated 28 assists, two kills, and six digs, and libero Zabdiel Frias (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) paced the Regis backline with 12 defensive digs.

Johnson & Wales raced out to a 9-1 lead in the first set, led by two kills from Jack Pincince and two service aces from Endel Sanchez. The Pride settled down and matched the Wildcats point-for-point until the final stretch, when JWU scored the final four points to clinch the opening set, capped by a Sanchez service ace.

After a kill by Alves tied the second set at 6-6, the Wildcats scored the next three points, including kills by Sanjae Holloway and Ben Naouai. Down 17-11, the Pride scored four straight points, featuring consecutive service aces by Alves, and eventually put together a 10-4 scoring stretch to tie the set at 21-21. The Wildcats put the set away with the final four points in a row, including kills from Naouai and Holloway.

Regis took the early 5-2 lead in the third set, led by two kills and a solo block from Josh Nolen (Fairfax, Va.). JWU rallied from an 8-4 deficit with a 7-1 scoring run, but the Pride answered right back with a 6-1 scoring stretch, led by two kills from Wizboski.

After the Pride extended their lead to 19-16 on a kill by Gueincy Clodomir (Pembroke Park, Fla.), the Wildcats scored the next six points, capped by kills from Zach Turner and Joao Boaventura. Regis closed to within two at 23-21 on a kill by Dimitri Stewart (Paterson, N.J.), but JWU clinched the third set and the match with a block by Boaventura, Sanchez, and Josh Pitzer as well as a kill from Matthew McCarthy.

Holloway led the Wildcats with seven kills and six digs, plus he earned two service aces, while Naouai and Turner collected six kills apiece. Sanchez took over setting duties in the second set and finished with 21 assists, four service aces, and four digs, and Boaventura added five kills, five digs, and three total blocks.

As a team, JWU posted a hitting percentage of .250 and led the Pride in service aces (7-5) and team blocks (5-4). Each team earned 32 total kills, with Regis finishing with 34 defensive digs to top that category over JWU's 29 digs.

Johnson & Wales (8-7, 2-0 GNAC) steps out of conference for a road match at Springfield College, the top ranked team in the country, Friday, Feb. 14, starting at 7 p.m. The Wildcats then host Emerson Monday, Feb. 17, and Rivier Wednesday, Feb. 19, in GNAC contests.

Regis (2-7, 0-2 GNAC) heads to Franklin, Mass., for a matchup against Dean College Thursday, Feb. 13, beginning at 5 p.m. The next home match for the Pride is Saturday, Feb. 22, against Eastern Nazarene starting at 12 noon in a rematch of a five-set thriller won by the Lions Jan. 30.