Men’s Volleyball Claims Bard Raptors Volleyball Invitational Title

Men’s Volleyball Claims Bard Raptors Volleyball Invitational Title

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – With their third-straight victory by a 3-0 margin, the Wells College men's volleyball team placed first amongst the six team field to claim the Bard Raptors Volleyball Invitational Title on Saturday. Wells, who set down City College of New York in straight sets, collects their program-record ninth overall victory in only their 15th game of the season. Additionally, freshman Liam Kaylor (Falls Church, Va.) earned All-Tournament Team placement while sophomore John Farruggia (Leonardsville, N.Y.) claimed Most Outstanding Player honors.

Wells posted a 3-0 victory via set scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-23. In the match, Farruggia set a program record with a .462 hitting percentage after recording 12 kills without an error in 26 total attacks. Sophomore Derek Nipps (Turnersville, N.J.) assisted 32 of his team's 39 kills and senior libero C.J. Bayly (Waymart, Pa.) took charge on defense, posting a team-best 14 digs en route to the victory.

Trailing by a 17-14 margin in the first set, Wells scored the next six points in the match to capture a 20-17 lead. From there, the Express allowed only four more points to the Beavers. Nipps was able to hammer home the final kill of the match on set point, using a feed from Bayly, to dispatch CCNY in the opening set.

Leading by a 16-11 margin in the middle stanza, Wells outscored the Beavers by a 9-to-5 margin down the stretch to win the second set by a 25-16 score. Farruggia, freshman Alex Battey (Palmdale, Calif.) and classmate Mathew Armlin (Fort Plain, N.Y.) each posted three kills in the middle set alone to help the Express to the set victory.

Tied at 23 aside in the third set, back-to-back kills by Farruggia and Battey elevated the Express to the three set victory. In the final set alone, Farruggia struck for six kills on 10 errorless attacks to power the Express to victory. Bayly racked up six digs by himself in the final set while junior Andy Jacobs (Millburn, N.J.) stepped up with five clutch digs.

Nicholas Siriban recorded a team-best 10 kills for CCNY while Anthony Reyes chipped in with 25 assists to lead the team. Defensively, Brian Yik Lim tallied 11 digs to lead the defensive corps for the Beavers.

Wells returns to action this Friday, Feb. 28 as they host the Spartans of D'Youville College at 7:00 p.m. During the game, the Express will attempt to re-set the "Bump World Record" – for more information, click here.