Newton, MA - The Lasell College men's volleyball team put up a valiant effort on Wednesday evening against Wentworth, before falling to the Leopards 3-1. Ross Burdett (Needham, MA) scored 18 kills coupled with 6 digs and 2 aces to help the visitors come out on top by scores of 26-24, 25-16, 23-25 and 25-18.

Vicenty Ithier (Newington, CT) led the Lasers with 9 kills, 12 digs, and 2 blocks getting help in the attack from teammates Dan Raffol (Natick, MA), 8 kills, 4 digs, 1 block and Alex Mill (Danville, NH), 8 kills, 7 digs, 3 blocks. Matt Dugan (New Lenox, IL) also accumulated 34 assists to keep Lasell alive in all four sets of the match.

The opening set of this conference matchup did not disappoint as both teams went point for point throughout the entire set. Trailing 24-21, the Lasers took advantage of a Wentworth service error and back-to-back kills by Raffol and Tim Anderson (Danville, NH), to tie the score at 24. The Leopards answered with consecutive kills by Burdett and Mike Buonincontra(Shelton, CT) to pull out the 26-24 victory.

The Leopards took a 4-1 lead starting the second set, courtesy of three straight kills, one by Burdett and a pair by Rami Akouri(Fall River, MA). The Lasers would spend the set fighting from behind, and were unable to overcome the strong service game of the visitors and their own attacking errors as the Leopards took a 25-16 victory.

Lasell opened the third set by falling behind 5-3, only to respond with a 9-2 run using a balanced attack that saw 4 different Lasers earn kills, to go up 12-7. The Leopards slowly ground their way back into the set, eventually tying the third set at 23-23. After a Wentworth service error gave the hosts a chance for set point, Lasell closed the door via a block from Tim Anderson and Vicenty Ithier to cut the Leopards lead to 2-1 in the match.

Wentworth began the fourth set by running out to a 5-1 lead, and the Lasers never got closer than 3 points the rest of the way as Wentworth closed out the set and the match with a 25-18 win.

Lasell drops to 2-4 overall, and 0-3 in conference play, while Wentworth stands at 7-4 on the season and 3-2 in the GNAC. Next up for the Lasers is the Bard College Invitational February 24th, in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York while WIT travels to Poughkeepsie, New York to take on CCNY and Vassar College.