NEWTON, Mass. - Regis College faced two teams earning national recognition in the coaches poll, losing to Lasell, 3-0, and Rutgers-Newark, 3-1, Saturday afternoon in a tri-match hosted by the Lasers at the Lasell Athletic Center.
Rutgers-Newark 3, Regis 1 (25-14, 22-25, 25-12, 25-16)
Robert Burch (Coxsackie, N.Y.) led the Pride offensively with six kills, with John Nangle (Lowell, Mass.) and Logan Sras (Lowell, Mass.) earning five kills apiece. Tyrell Bucasas (Waialua, Hawaii) finished with 15 assists, four digs, and three total blocks, and Marcello Cappuccio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) collected a season-high 13 defensive digs.
Rutgers-Newark (4-0) used a 13-3 scoring run to pull away with the first set, cliniching it on a block by Martin Chromulak. The Pride opened a 10-5 lead in the second set thanks to a 6-1 scoring run, but the Scarlet Raiders put together an 8-3 scoring stretch to pull ahead, 19-18. Regis responded with three straight points and held onto the lead, closing out the second set on a kill by Burch.
The Scarlet Raiders scored seven unanswered points to open a 10-2 advantage in the third set, followed by an 8-1 scoring run to close out the set, capped by a kill from Chromulak. A 9-2 scoring run allowed Rutgers-Newark to take control of the fourth set, and the 10th-ranked team in the country finished out the set and the match on consecutive service aces by Daniel Quay.
Quay led the Scarlet Raiders with 10 kills, four service aces, and five total blocks, while Chromulak finished with eight kills, four service aces, and four total blocks. Derek Au notched a double-double with 39 assists and 11 digs, and Aidan Apito contributed nine kills and eight digs to the winning effort.
Lasell 3, Regis 0 (25-13, 25-9, 25-12)
Chris Huynh (Methuen, Mass.) and Nagle led the Pride with four kills and a service ace apiece as Bucasas dished out 11 assists. Defensive, Cappuccio paced Regis with eight digs.
Lasell (2-1, 1-0 GNAC) earned three straight blocks early in the first set to open a 6-2 lead, and then the Lasers put together an 8-2 scoring run to extend that advantage to 16-8. A 7-1 stretch for the home team brought about set point and then, after two Regis points, Lasell clinched the opening set on a kill by Carter Phillips.
The Lasers scored 11 of the first 12 points of the second set on the way to extending their match lead to 2-0. Lasell would open the third set with four straight points, including two kills by David Massa, but the Pride would eventually close to within one point at 10-9. However, Lasell rattled off 10 unanswered points and eventually completed the sweep.
Massa led the Lasers with 12 kills and a .579 hitting percentage, while Jesus Garcia accumulated 27 assists and eight defensive digs. As a team, Lasell posted a .429 hitting percentage to go along with eight service aces, led by Jan Baranowski with three aces, and eight team blocks.
Regis College (1-4, 0-2 GNAC) hosts Nichols College Tuesday, Jan. 31, beginning at 7 p.m. at Higgins Court.