POUGHKEEPSIE, NY- The Lasell College men's volleyball team split a pair of matches on the first day of competition at the Vassar College Men's Volleyball Invitational on Friday. Lasell fell 3-0 in the first match of the day against Nazareth College, the team that is currently ranked in a tie for the no. 1 position in the AVCA DIII Top 15 Coaches Poll, and then defeated Johnson & Wales University in three sets to conclude competition for the day.
Against Nazareth, Lasell fought through three close sets, dropping set one 25-21, forcing 20 extra points in set two before falling 36-34 against the national powerhouse, and finishing the match with a 25-20 loss.
Spencer Parker (Newington, CT) put away 15 kills in the match, a match-high, swinging for a .346 clip. Harry Strobel (Westport, CT) chipped in with six kills offensively and Micah Aiu (Honolulu, HI) and Alex Mill (Danville, NH) added five each.
Mill also tied with Nazareth's Billy Gimello For a match-high in digs, prowling the back court for 12 digs each. Strobel added four additional digs for Lasell and Parker and Aiu each tallied three. Andrew Glen (Westport, CT) doled out 35 assists in the match for the Lasers.
In the second match of the evening, Lasell easily swept the three set match against Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) rivals Johnson & Wales by scores of 25-19, 26-24, and 25-19.
Parker once again led in the match with a contest-best 10 kills, also adding a match-high nine digs while Glenn dished out a high of 29 assists in the match.
The Lasers as a team hit an impressive 52.5% in the match, connecting with the floor on 38 of 59 chances with only seven errors in the entire match. Matthew Dionne (Danville, NH) produced six kills for Lasell, while hitting 71.4% in the match and Max Vaughan (Wethersfield, CT) connected on five kills. Mike Harrington (Billerica, MA), Mill, Aiu, and Strobel each scored points on four kills throughout the match victory.
The Lasers are now 9-6 overall and will face the club team Creole as well as hosts Vassar on Saturday, February 19th in 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. matches.