LASERS UPEND SAINTS, 3-0
NEWTON, Mass. – For the first time since the 2011 season, the Emmanuel College Men’s Volleyball Team was defeated by Lasell College. In unprecedented action, the Saints were swept by the Lasers, falling 3-0, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match played on Lasell’s campus on Valentine’s Day evening.
NEWTON, Mass. – For the first time since the 2011 season, the Emmanuel College Men's Volleyball Team was defeated by Lasell College. In unprecedented action, the Saints were swept by the Lasers, falling 3-0, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match played on Lasell's campus on Valentine's Day evening.
Lasell claimed a back-and-forth opening set 25-22 and then eased to victories in the next two sets, 25-12 and 25-19. The Lasers improved to 6-2 overall on the season and 1-0 in GNAC play, while Emmanuel slipped to 3-3 for the year and dropped to 1-1 in league matches.
Dan Raffol (Natick, Mass.) tallied 14 kills to lead Lasell. Ryan Jackson (Massilon, Ohio) put down 12 kills, while notching eight digs. As a team, the Lasers recorded one of the best team hitting performances in program history, tallying 42 kills on 74 attacks with only eight attacking errors. Andrew Glenn (Westport, Conn.) directed the Lasers' prolific hitting performance with 37 assists and Abdulreham Khan (Karachi, Pakistan) finished with three solo blocks and four kills for Lasell.
Ashanti Jackson (Sacramento, Calif.) notched a team-high eight kills for Emmanuel and Wyatt Cooper (Ridgefield, Conn.) added five kills in the match for the Saints. Sean Baxley (Saint James, N.Y.) handed out 21 assists and Ernie Gurule (Los Angeles, Calif.) posted a team-high six digs for the visitors.
Emmanuel won the first three points of the opening set before Lasell recovered; tying the set at 3-3 and the back-and-forth affair was never further apart than two points until the host Lasers claimed the final point of the set to open with a 25-22 win.
The Lasers jumped out to an early advantage in the second set, leading 5-1 and never looking back as they cruised to a 25-12 victory in the second set. The Lasers opened up a 5-1 lead in the third set as well and while Emmanuel remained within striking distance the Lasers never let the Saints within three points, en-route to a 25-19 victory in the final set.
Emmanuel will face-off with pre-season favorite and the nation's top-ranked team, Rivier University, on Wednesday (2/19) at 8:00 PM in the Jean Yawkey Center. The Lasers will host Johnson and Wales University at 7:00 PM on February 21st.
- Courtesy of Lasell College Sports Information