Regis Men’s Volleyball Battles Endicott in Saturday Matinee

BEVERLY, Mass. – Regis College battled Endicott College, especially in the second and third sets, but the Gulls prevailed over the Pride, 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-23), Saturday afternoon in a non-conference men's collegiate volleyball match at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Matt Ferrara (Sandown, N.H.) and Josh Nolen (Falls Church, Va.) led the Pride offense with six kills apiece, with neither player committing an attack error as they combined to hit .706 in the match. Ferrara also notched three service aces while Nolen finished with four block assists.

The Gulls pulled out to a 7-4 lead to start the match, led by Rafa Robert with three kills and a service ace, and then Ian Smith earned consecutive service aces to extend the Gull advantage to 14-8. Endicott closed out the first set with an 8-2 scoring run, capped by a kill from Spencer Capps. The two teams combined for just one attack error in the opening set, but Endicott took control of the set with 15 kills in 21 attempts for a .714 hitting percentage.

In the second set, the teams split the first 14 points before three straight kills by Smith put the Gulls on top, 10-7. Down 18-15 after another kill by Smith, Regis came back, led by Ferrara with a kill, a block assist, and a service ace, to tie the set three times, the last one coming at 21-21. Endicott answered by scoring four of the final five points of the second set, led by Capps with two kills and a block assist.

The Pride opened the third set by scoring four of the first five points, including a block by Nolen and Robert Burch (Coxsackie, N.Y.), but the Gulls put together a 6-1 scoring run to pull ahead, 10-8. The momentum continued to swing back and forth with 16 ties and seven lead changes in the set. Endicott clinched the set and the match by scoring the final three points on kills by Robert and Nick Hayes as well as a Pride attack error.

Endicott (5-2) was led by Robert with 13 kills, a .632 hitting percentage, two service aces, and six digs, while Nikolas Kasprzak finished with 10 kills on a .562 hitting percentage. Capps hit .600 as he earned eight kills, Smith also collected eight kills along with two service aces and two block assists, and Gabe DeBenedetto accumulated 29 assists as the Gulls hit .425 as a team.

Regis College (3-6) concludes a stretch of four straight road matches with a conference contest at Lasell University Thursday, Feb. 17, starting at 7 p.m.