Lasers' Updates 01/27/2009

January 27, 2009

Men's Volleyball

The Lasell men's volleyball team opened the 2009 season up nicely going 2-0 in their first week of competition.  The Lasers opened the season at home with a 3-1 win against a tough MIT, who were ranked 14th nationally in pre-season polls.  Despite losing the first set, the Lasers settled down and came back to win the next two sets 37-35 and 30-23, then took the final set 31-29. 

 

Matt Roberts (left) (Agawam, Mass.) was the star this night collecting a game high 18 kills and also contributed 10 digs.  Senior co-captain Joseph Lipski (Burlington, Conn.) also produced a game-high, with 14 digs. David Rogers (Belchertown, Mass.) added 12 kills, 10 digs, and 2.5 blocks, and Dan Rogers (Belchertown, Mass.) put down nine balls and closed in on 3.5 total blocks. First year setter Brendan McGourn (Southington, Conn.) ended the night with 49 assists.

 

Next the Lasers took on conference opponent Johnson & Wales.  The Lasers dominated and went on to a rather easy win in three set, 30-28, 30-22, and 30-26.  Dustin Foster (Ashford, Conn.), Dan Rogers and Trevor Foster (Ashford, Conn.) dominated the middle, putting down a combined 13 kills in the match. Dave Rogers had a team high 8 kills and also collected 5 defensive digs, and Roberts finished the match with 6 kills and a team best 11 digs.

 

Women's Basketball

The Lasers improved to 3-2 in the GNAC and 6-11 overall with a solid 77-66 win at Pine Manor on Saturday.  The first half was a back and forth battle with neither team pulling away. Katie Farr (Rindge, NH) paced the Lasers with 7 first half points, including a big three late in the half to give the Lasers a 7 point lead, but Pine Manor ended the half with two quick buckets and Lasell took a 28-26 lead into the half.

 In the 2nd half Lasell's two leading scorers, Tricia Culver (N. Hampton, Mass.) and Shauna Kelly (Quincy, Mass.) stepped their game up.  Culver (left) had 17 and Kelly (right) 15 point performances in the second half and helped preserve the win.

 

Culver finished the game with 22 points, going 10-12 from the line and Kelly finished with 19 points and a team high 11 rebounds.  Freshman Kelsey Converse (Laconia, NH) added 14 points and a game-best 4 assists, while Farr rounded out the double digit scores for Lasell with 10.

Kelly is ranked 3rd in the GNAC for points per game, and jumped up in rank to 64th in the nation in NCAADIII women's basketball, averagin 17.4 points per game. Kelly is also 8th in the GNAC in field goal percentage (43.5%) and 5th in offensive rebounding (3.6 per game).

Men's Basketball

The Lasell men's basketball team continued their winning ways, pushing their winning streak to 8 straight and still remains unbeaten in the GNAC.  The Lasers collected two impressive wins, first a 79-70 win at home over Keene State.  Then a very big win at 2nd place Emerson, 88-77.

The men's win against Keene State was enhanced by Jose Guitian (left) (Miami, FL) hitting a career milestone of 1,500 total points.  Guitian become only the 3rd player in Lasell history to surpass the 1,500 point mark in a career, and is currently just 45 points from becoming Lasell's all time leading scorer.  Guitian finished the Keene State game with 26 points and an amazing 18 rebounds. 

 

The first half was smooth sailing for the Lasers taking a 44-25 lead into the break and then continuing to build on their lead in the 2nd half.  They were up by as many as 25 until the owls went on a 15-0 run and eventually cut the lead down by 5, but the Lasers were able to avoid the scare and hold on for a 9 point win.

 

Corey Godfrey (Cambridge, Mass.) was a big factor late in the game going 9-9 from the foul line and shooting over 66% for the game.  Godfrey finished with 21 points and seniors Brad Caravoulias (Dracut, Mass.) and Junior Sainval (Miami, FL) finished with 12 and 8 respectively.

 

The Lasers then traveled into Boston to take on the 2nd place team in the GNAC, Emerson.  Guitian and Godfrey one again led the Lasers with 20 and 18 points apiece, which included a combined 28 second half points.  Guitian scored 20 and collected 14 boards in only 24 minutes due to foul trouble.

 

In the first half Lasell was led by the shooting of Charles Horton (Worcester, Mass.) and Caravoulias.   Horton hit two threes and had 10 points, while Caravoulias attacked the hoop and collected 11 points.  Lasell dominated the glass in the first half and took a 46-40 lead into the locker room.

 

Emerson came out with a spark in the 2nd half and eventually tied the game at 54, but the Lasers settled down and regained control of the game, leading to the 88-77 victory.  Caravoulias had 17 points to go along with 5 boards and 2 assists, and Horton finished the day with 12 points.

Guitian has, once again, been deservingly named the GNAC men's basketball Player of the Week for the week ending January 25th, 2009 and ECAC Player of the Week for the New England DIII Region. Guitian averaged 23.6 points and an impressive 15.6 rebounds over thecourse of the week for the Lasers. Guitian isranked 1st in the GNAC in rebounds per game and has jumped up from 9th last week, to an impressive 2ndoverall in the nation,averaging 12.3 boards a game. He is also scoring an average of 22.1 points per game, good for 2nd in GNAC and 15th in the nation, and is 1st in the GNAC and 25th nationally in blocks per game, averaging 2.0 per game.

Caravoulias (far right) and freshman point guard Kevin Richard (New Orleans, LA) are also ranked nationally for Lasell in multiple categories. Caravoulias is ranked 29th (out of 500) in three-point field goals per game, averaging 3.2 per game. He is also ranked 40th in three-point field goal percentage, shooting at 43.6%.

Richard (inset right) cracked the top ten this week in assist/turnover ratio, with a 2.85 average. He also made it to the top 15 this week in assists per game, averaging 6.5 per game, with 97 total assists this season.

 

Upcoming Games:

Tuesday, January 27th-

  • Men's Volleyball vs. #11 Newbury College, 7:00 p.m.
  • Men's Basketball @ Johnson & Wales, 7:30 p.m.

 

Wednesday, January 28th-

  • Women's Basketball @ Wellesley, 7:00 p.m.

 

Thursday, January 29th-

  • Men's Basketball vs. Rivier, 7:00 p.m.

 

Saturday, January 31st-

  • Women's basketball vs. Suffolk, 2:00 p.m.
  • Men's basketball @ Suffolk, 2:00 p.m.