Posted: Feb 14, 2012
Nashua – The duo of senior Chris Shannon (Ronkonkoma, NY) and sophomore Joe Walz (East Longmeadow, MA.) combined for 20 kills and 17 digs guiding host Daniel Webster past Lasell, 3-0 in men's volleyball regional action Tuesday night at Mario Vagge Gymnasium.
Alex Mill (Danville, NH) led Lasell with six kills while Vincent Ithier (Newington, CT) added five and Matt Dione (Danville, NH) had four. Matt Dugan (New Lenox, IL) dished off 19 assists and Dan Raffol (Natick, MA) added eight digs and three kills.
It marked the first win for the Eagles (2-3) against the Lasers (1-1) dating back three seasons and the first sets DWC had ever taken against Lasell and the hosts controlled the tempo throughout, winning by set scores of 25-7, 25-21 and 25-17.
Shannon and Walz finished with 10 kills each. Kyle Clement (Weymouth, Mass.) racked up a match-high 21 assists and was strong defensively with a match-best 12 digs. Rookie Joel Hendrix (Keneohe, Haw.) added seven kills, five digs and two solo blocks, while Eric Smith (Clay, N.Y.) added 10 assists. David Miller (Eldersburg, Md.) chipped in with six kills.
DWC hit .329 as a team (36-8-85) while Lasell struggled hitting -.031. The hosts also finished with decisive advantages in assists (31-20), digs (41-37) and total points (47-28).
The Eagles never trailed in the opener, jumping out to leads of 8-1 and 12-3, closed the set on a 5-0 run and hit .435 led by four Shannon kills and three from Hendrix. Raffol, Matthew Dionne (Danville, NH)and Tim Anderson (Plaistow, NH) had two kills each for Lasell.
Lasell built a 4-1 lead early on but DWC responded with a 6-0 run behind two kills from Walz and a Miller ace and the Eagles never trailed the rest of the set. DWC hit .205 in the second, with Shannon knocking down six kills and Walz adding three. Mill and Ithier had three for the Lasers.
Trailing 17-13, Lasell pulled within 18-17 on kills from Mill and Anderson. Back-to-back kills by Shannon sparked a 5-0 run ending with a Miller kill and Shannon later closed out the 25-21 win with his sixth kill of the set.
The Eagles powered back up in the third, again hitting .435 as Walz and Hendrix had three kills each. DWC pulled out front 7-3 early on two Walz kills and took control with a 5-1 run behind back-to-back kills from Shannon and Hendrix for a 13-6 lead and Lasell pulled no closer than six the rest of the way.
The Eagles now head out on the road for their next five beginning on Saturday at NECC foe Lesley at 7:00 p.m. Lasell hosts Lesley on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.