No. 15 Men’s Volleyball Bests Emmanuel (MA) in Four Sets | https://nicholsathletics.com/
No. 15 Men’s Volleyball Bests Emmanuel (MA) in Four Sets | https://nicholsathletics.com/
Fresh off the program's first time cracking the national rankings on Wednesday afternoon, the No. 15 Nichols men's volleyball team extended its winning streak to 10 matches with a 3-1 win over Emmanuel (MA) at the Jean Yawkey Center. Nichols, who improved to 11-3 (0-0 NECC) in the victory, won by set scores of 25-14, 23-25, 33-31, 25-22, dropping the Saints' record to 9-8 (3-2 GNAC).
The Bison led 19-10 when Carlos Mercado landed a service ace to put the Bison up nine late in the first set. Down the stretch, Nichols put together two straight points on a Conor McCabe kill and block by Tanner Soracco and Dylan Urbanski to put the Bison up 22-12. Soracco would soon put the first frame away with his third kill of the set.
In the second set, Nichols held a three-point lead at 18-15, which would be squandered on three-straight errors. The Saints would take their first lead of the set since leading 10-9 on back-to-back kills with Louis DaSilva and Dyles Amirault. Nichols would battle back to take a 21-19 lead, forcing the hosts into a timeout. Leading 23-21 thanks to a service error, Emmanuel would go on to score the final four points of the set to even the match up at 1-1.
The third set registered 64 points between the two squads, as the two teams battled hard to take a match lead. With the Saints just one point from taking the 2-1 lead at 24-22, Nichols would string together three-straight points to send it to set point for the visitor. After Nichols scored its 25th point, the two teams would go on to produce four lead changes before kills from Mercado and Dylan Knapp gave the Bison a 33-31 victory in the game. Nichols registered 17 kills at a .351 hitting percentage in the set.
In the fourth set, Nichols used four of its 11 blocks and two of its seven service aces to come away from Boston with its 10th-consecutive victory.
Urbanski was once again stellar as the Nichols floor general, dishing out 44 assists (11 per set) to help the Bison to a .288 team hitting percentage. Leading the charge was Soracco, who swung at a .417 clip in collecting 13 kills. Following closely behind him was Mercado, whose 12 kills were second-best on the team. Soracco and Knapp each tallied five block assists in the victory.
The Bison will open up league play on Saturday, March 4 in an 11 a.m. showdown against Bard in New England Collegiate Conference (CCC) play at the Nichols Athletic Center.
Original source can be found here.
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