Team, Individual Honors For Men's Volleyball

Team, Individual Honors For Men's Volleyball

The Wells College men's volleyball team and sophomore defensive specialist Kevin Batmunkh received recognition following an exciting start to the 2018 season. Wells opened its season with a 2-2 record at the SUNY Poly Invitational, and that included a victory over nationally-ranked Vassar College.

Over four matches at the tournament, Batmunkh was one of the leaders on defense for the Express. He was named North Eastern Athletic Conference Men's Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Jan. 21. It is the first-career conference honor for Batmunkh. He had 29 digs over 13 sets played at the invitational, an average of 2.33 digs per set. Batmunkh is a native of Torrance, Calif. and had 103 digs in his freshman campaign, averaging 1.94 digs per set.

Wells earned an historic victory to start the tournament with a four-set win over fourth-ranked Vassar College. It was the first-ever win over a ranked opponent in program history. Wells also defeated Johnson & Wales during the event. 

The latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Men's Poll was released Tuesday, Jan. 23 and Wells received six votes in the national poll, sixth most points outside of the top-15 rankings in the poll. Opening-weekend opponents Wentworth and Elms, both victorious over Wells, were also listed. Wentworth is ranked eighth and Elms is the first team outside of the top-15, with 40 points from coaches' ballots.

Jan. 23 AVCA Division III Rankings

Wells is back in action this weekend at the Elmira College Invitational. The Express takes on Cairn at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26. There are two matches Saturday, Jan. 27. Wells will face Thiel at 11 a.m. and then go up against host school Elmira at 3 p.m. There will be video coverage of Saturday's matches at Elmira's webcast site.