Men's Volleyball Set Down By SUNY Poly, 3-0

Men's Volleyball Set Down By SUNY Poly, 3-0

MARCY, N.Y. – The Wells College men's volleyball team posted a straight-set loss to the host Wildcats from the SUNY Polytechnic Institute on Tuesday evening. With the loss, the Express dip to 6-12 overall and to 2-5 within the North Eastern Athletic Conference while SUNY Poly moves to 12-6 on the year and to 6-1 against league opponents. 

SUNY Poly won the match via set scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-21. SUNY Poly hit no lower than .302 collectively in a set, finishing with a mark of .352 after posting 52 kills and only 15 attacking errors, while the Express opened the match with six errors in the first set alone. 

Junior Liam Kaylor (Falls Church, Va.) recorded 11 kills on 18 total attack attempts, hitting a team-leading .500 while throwing up three block assists to eclipse 100 career blocks. Sophomore Brannon Perdicho (Victor, N.Y.) posted 10 kills while senior John Farruggia (New Hartford, N.Y.) hammered home six kills. Senior Derek Nipps (Turnersville, N.J.) assisted 29 of his team's 33 kills. 

Ahead by a 6-3 margin in the first set, SUNY Poly rattled off five-straight points to capture the 8-6 lead after two attacking errors by the Express combined with two Wildcats kills to create the advantage. The Express would lead 14-13, but a SUNY Poly time out led to three-straight kills by the hosts – Wells would not lead again in the opener, falling by a 25-20 margin. 

The Express would take a modest 7-4 lead in the second set, but again the Wildcats would rally to topple Wells in the late goings. With the score tied at 22, SUNY Poly would record back-to-back kills before Perdicho kept his team alive with a kill to cut the hosts lead to 23-22. Wells, however, would allow a kill by A.J. Davids before a service ace by the Wildcats completed the comeback. 

Leading by a 10-9 score in the third and final set, SUNY Poly took quick control of the match and ultimately scored nine of the set's next 10 points to open up a dominant 20-12 lead. A late 4-0 run by the Express late in the set was unable to bridge the gap. 

Davids led SUNY Poly with 17 kills while Ryan Gloff posted 14 kills to rank second on the team. Zach Goggin set up 41 of his team's 52 kills while the team's defense combined to record 23 digs on the match. 

Wells will play its next three matches at home, beginning with a tilt this Saturday, Mar. 5 against the Lions from Penn St.-Behrend at 4 p.m. within the Farenthold Athletic Wing.