Men's Volleyball Falls Short vs. Wittenberg, 3-1

Men's Volleyball Falls Short vs. Wittenberg, 3-1

AURORA, N.Y. – Sophomore Brannon Perdicho (Victor, N.Y.) led the Wells College men's volleyball team with 19 kills, which tied for the second-most in a single match in program history, but the Express fell in four sets to visiting Wittenberg University on Sunday. Wells falls to 6-14 overall while Wittenberg improves to 9-4 following the non-conference tilt. 

Perdicho hit a collective .310, committing only six attacking errors on 42 swings, en route to the 19-kill performance. Additionally, he eclipsed the 400-kill plateau for his career – he exited play on Sunday ranked third all-time with 408 kills. Senior John Farruggia (New Hartford, N.Y.) hammered home 17 kills, making only three miscues, while posting a team-best .400 attacking percentage. He also tied with Perdicho for the team lead in digs with six. 

Farruggia joined classmate J.J. Podczasy (Macungie, Pa.) by appearing in his 99th career match on Sunday, passing Paul Hernon '15 who played in 98 career matches in a Wells uniform.

Wittenberg took the first set by a 25-17 score, but Wells evened things up and captured the second set win by a 25-19 margin. The Tigers, however, would rally to win the final two sets by posting scores of 25-19 and 25-20. 

The Express battled throughout the first set, bringing the score to 15-13 until Wittenberg went on a 10-4 run to close out the set, highlighted by five Tiger kills. The Tigers committed only one attacking error on 20 swings, hammering home 10 kills while hitting a collective .450. 

Wells bounced back strong in the second set, holding the lead for all but once when the Tigers tied it up at eight. Farruggia, however, posted two kills sandwiched between a service ace by junior Liam Kaylor (Falls Church, Va.) to complete a 3-0 run. From there, Wells would record five of the set's final six points en route to the win, hitting .423 in the set as a team. Perdicho and Farruggia hammered home back-to-back kills to seal the win. 

With the score locked in at nine in the third set, Wittenberg posted four-straight points before Wells countered with a 4-0 run of its own. Ahead 16-15, four-straight kills by the Tigers gave the visitors complete control of the set as they would ultimately win, 25-19, on an attacking error by the Express. 

The Tigers maintained its pace, coming out fast against the Express again in the fourth set to create a match-high nine point lead, 13-4. Wells would battle back, cutting the once-large Wittenberg lead to 23-20, but a kill and a service ace by the Tigers lifted the guests to a 3-1 match win. 

Justin Luby led the Tigers with 18 kills and Dylan Kolovitz added 15. As a team, Wittenberg hit .376 after tallying 59 kills and committing only 15 attacking errors as a team. Ross Russell set up 49 of his team's kills while joining Joel Sotos for the team lead with 10 digs on defense. 

Wells returns to action this Wednesday, Mar. 9 as it hosts Keuka College in a pivotal North Eastern Athletic Conference match with the Wolfpack at 6 p.m. within the Farenthold Athletic Wing.