Men's Volleyball Swept To Open Golden Flyer Invitational

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Wells College men's volleyball team posted back-to-back losses to open play at the 2015 Golden Flyer Invitational, held on the campus of Nazareth College in the Kidera Gymnasium. Wells (3-5) posted straight set losses against Thiel (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) in the afternoon's first match before falling to Medaille, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21.

Wells was led by junior J.J. Podczasy (Macungie, Pa.) against Thiel, racking up 11 kills on 24 total attacks to lead the Express in both categories. The team only combined for 27 kills as Podczasy was the only other player for Wells to record more than four kills. Freshman Scott Litvin (Sayville, N.Y.) set up 24 of his team's 27 kills while libero Jack Battumur (Denver, Colo.) was responsible for a team-leading 14 digs.

Thiel's offense clicked throughout the match as the squad hit a collective .356 after committing only nine attacking errors on 90 swings. John Turner posted a team-best 10 kills and three service aces while Zach Rombach had a double-double with 23 assists and 18 digs defensively. As a team, the Tomcats posted 28 more digs than Wells (66-to-38).

Crucial service and attacking errors doomed the Express against Medaille, who picked up their first win of the season against Wells to conclude the day's action. Junior John Farruggia (West Winfield, N.Y.) posted a team-leading nine kills for the Express while freshman Brannon Perdicho (Victor, N.Y.) tallied eight of his own. Litvin assisted 30 kills in the match while Battumur once again led Wells defensively with seven digs.

Wells trailed by a 21-15 margin in the opening set and eventually came back from a 23-18 deficit to tie the score with five-straight points that included a kill by sophomore Alex Battey (Palmdale, Calif.) and a service ace by senior Andy Jacobs (Millburn, N.J.). With the score tied 23, however, the Express committed a costly service error that was followed up by an attacking error at set point.

Medaille took a commanding 9-4 lead in the second set and Wells once again was able to shrink the once-large deficit into a more manageable 17-15 score following a Perdicho kill. The Express, however, allowed two-straight Medaille points and a sizeable lead was once again created by the Mavericks. Medaille went on to capture the middle set by four points.

Despite hitting .400 (13-3-25) in the third set, Medaille one-upped the Express and hammered home 16 kills on 27 swings, posting only two terrors for a dominant .519 hitting percentage. In total, Calvin Crosby led the Mavericks with 12 kills while Nate Schneider posted 10 of his own. David Riggsby set up 34 of his team's 44 kills while leading the way with seven digs defensively.

Wells concludes play in the 2015 Golden Flyer Invitational Saturday as they face-off against Hilbert at 10 a.m. before closing against nationally-ranked Elmira at 2 p.m. The match times were moved ahead one hour in anticipation of a heavy snow storm heading toward Western New York.