NEWTON, Mass. (4/1/14) – The Lasell College men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to visiting Wentworth, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-16 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference match on Tuesday evening at Lasell. The loss was the fifth straight for Lasell, dropping them to 16-10 on the year and 5-8 in the GNAC while the Leopards picked up their seventh straight win to improve to continue the best year in program history with 22 wins against only seven defeats overall and an 11-2 mark in the GNAC.
Jeff Vautrin (Chicopee, Mass.) notched a match-high 11 kills and a team-high seven digs for Lasell and Dan Raffol (Natick, Mass.) added eight kills as the Lasers struggled offensively, only hitting .126 for the match. Ryan Jackson (Massilon, Ohio) posted a team-high 18 assists to go with six digs for Lasell and Andrew Glenn (Westport, Conn.) chipped in 10 assists and six digs.
Alex Potts (Niverville, N.Y.) and Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass.) each tallied 10 digs for Wentworth on 16 and 19 total attacks respectively as Wentworth produced an efficient attack, hitting .359 for the match. Burdett finished with a team-high seven digs and Colin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) handed out 32 assists while directing the Leopards offense.
Wentworth took the opening set 25-21, breaking a 9-9 tie with four straight points to go in front 13-9 and held off the hosts the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead. The Leopards used a three point run to take a 6-3 lead early in the second set and kept their slim lead through most of the set until the scored the final four points to close out the second set 25-18.
Wentworth took the third and final set 25-16, using a big burst midway through the set to put the match away. Leading 7-6, the Leopards scored nine of the next 10 points to blow the set open and take a 16-7 lead while taking advantage of six errors by Lasell in run, then closing out the set and the match.
Wentworth will host Emmanuel on Thursday April 3rd as they continue to push for an opening round bye in the GNAC tournament while Lasell will be looking to clinch a GNAC tourney appearance with a road contest at Mount Ida on Thursday evening.