Men's Volleyball & Women's Lacrosse: "On This Day" 4-14-19
"On This Day" is a Wells College Athletics feature designed to look back over the past three seasons when most of our 2020 seniors began play for the Express and what highlights happened to Wells' spring teams on this day on April 14
Men's Volleyball: April 14, 2019
The Wells College men's volleyball team rallied from two sets down and won the 2019 North Eastern Athletic Conference championship match in five sets over Lancaster Bible College. It is the first conference title in the eight-year existence of Wells College men's volleyball and the Express have qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
Set scores were 12-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22 and 15-13 in the title match which took place at Lancaster Bible College's Horst Athletic Center. Lancaster Bible was the tournament's top seed and host, and the Chargers are ranked 10th nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Men's Poll.
It was the third match of the year between the teams, and LBC took each of the first two matches, winning in five sets at Wells on March 16 and winning in three sets at Lancaster, Pa. on March 23.
Wells had eight hitting errors and nine kills in the opening set, as LBC cruised to a 25-12 win. LBC edged Wells in the second set 25-23, as Wells saw a 15-9 lead turned around by the Chargers.
In the third set, Wells pulled ahead 20-17 but LBC answered with a three-point run to tie it. Wells then held a 24-21 lead with the serve, but LBC defended set points with a kill, service ace, and hitting error on the Express. At 24-24, LBC had a service error and Robert Patzer served an ace to close out the set 26-24.
The Express had their most efficient hitting games in the fourth and fifth sets. Wells hit .231 in the fourth set with 14 kills and five errors. In the fifth set, Wells hit .269 with 11 kills and four errors.
Wells held a margin of 2-5 points for most of the fourth set. LBC held off two set points, but an attack error gave the decisive point to the Express and forced a deciding set. Lancaster Bible had leads of two and three points for most of the fifth set and held a 13-11 lead following a Wells service error. The Express answered with a four-point run to win it. After a service error by the Chargers, a kill from Caden O'Loughlin tied it. O'Loughlin served an ace to give Wells its first match point, and it was converted on a kill by Patzer at the right pin.
O'Loughlin earned the most valuable player award for the tournament. In Sunday's championship, he had 16 kills, hit .224, served two aces, had 12 digs and two block assists.
Patzer had 16 kills and Ryan Turner had 10 kills. Josh Undari had 48 assists. Liam Kaylor had 12 digs and Joe Zimmerman had 10 digs. Justin Williams had five block assists and Patzer had four block assists.
Wells hit .171 as Lancaster Bible had 14 total blocks, but the Express had a serving advantage with 10 aces to six for Lancaster Bible. Wells had 17 service errors and Lancaster Bible College had 12 errors.
The NCAA Tournament selection show is Monday, April 15 at 10 a.m. and can be viewed at NCAA.com. Wells carries a 27-8 record into the national tournament and Lancaster Bible College is 26-5.
Women's Lacrosse: April 14, 2019
The Wells College women's lacrosse team rallied from five goals down in an epic scoring battle that saw both teams nearly combine for 50 goals at SUNY Poly on Sunday, April 14. The Express trailed by five goals in each half and eventually tied the game at 22-22 with eight and a half minutes remaining, but the host Wildcats scored the winning goal in the final minute of the second half to take the contest at 23-22 on Sunday, April 14. The Express came closer than any other NEAC team to add a blemish to Poly's undefeated 7-0 conference record in the NEAC this season.
The Express fell behind 10-5 in the first half before closing the last six minutes on a 5-1 scoring run. Mackenzie Maloney and Miranda Mingen scored back-to-back goals. Then, while playing man-down, Renee Bartosz and Julia Smith scored 20 seconds apart. Savanah Connors added a free-position goal with 1:33 left in the half that left Wells trailing by just a single marker at 11-10 at the break.
The Wildcats led 19-14 with 19 minutes remaining and 21-18 with 12 minutes remaining. Three-straight goals from Maloney tied the score 21-21. SUNY Poly's Emily Somes scored to put the Wildcats back in front, but Mingen answered with 8:32 left to tie it 22-22. Kayla Prosinski scored the decisive goal with 32 seconds left to go, and the Wildcats won the ensuing draw control.
Maloney had seven goals and six assists for Wells. Connors had six goals, Bartosz had four goals and three assists, and Mingen scored three goals. Smith and Amanda Fastiggi had one goal each.
Maloney led Wells with eight draw controls. Mingen had eight ground balls and Maloney had seven. Anna Bozeat had three caused turnovers, five ground balls, and 15 saves.