BENNINGTON, Vt. - February 7, 2019 - The Colby-Sawyer men's volleyball team posted its second-straight road win in as many nights with a 3-1 triumph at Southern Vermont Thursday evening. The Chargers won by scores of 25-20, 22-25, 25-19 and 27-25. 

Colby-Sawyer improves to 4-1 and defeated the Mountaineers for the second time this season by a 3-1 result. Colby-Sawyer will play a tri-match on Saturday against Regis and the hosts Dean College. Southern Vermont drops to 1-3 and will travel to Elms tomorrow night. 

Orlando Plagata posted an impressive match-high 17 kills to go with 18 digs and five aces. Eric Miller also registered a double-double of 16 kills and 11 digs. Yannick Gonsalves finished with six kills on .385 hitting. AJ Gnieski tallied 36 assists and eight digs. Marc Flaherty collected 18 digs.  

Isaiah Backels led the Mountaineers with a triple-double of 12 kills, 19 digs and 18 assists. Hans Resignac added nine kills. Fernando Perez contributed 16 digs, while Adrian Dickerson added seven kills and seven digs. 

The opening set was well contested with neither side leading by more than four until the final point of the frame. With the score tied 10-10, the Chargers went on a 6-2 spurt for an advantage they would never relinquish. Miller had five kills in the set, while Plagata added four of his own.

The Mountaineers jumped out to a 7-4 edge in the second stanza, but Colby-Sawyer came back to tie it up and eventually go on top 18-17. SVC won the next four points, however, to force a Colby-Sawyer timeout. After an attacking error cut Southern Vermont's lead to 23-22, the hosts benefited from a service error before Backels put down his third kill of the set to end it.

The Chargers came out strongly to start the third with eight-straight points helping give them an 11-3 upper hand. Plagata had four aces and two kills in that stretch. Down 18-7, SVC rallied for five unanswered points, and the Mountaineers slowly crept closer down the stretch. Colby-Sawyer closed out the set as Plagata registered one final kill in the frame to put his team up 2-1.

Neither side could stay in front during the fourth as service went back-and-forth. With the score knotted at 18-18, Colby-Sawyer won four in-a-row for a little breathing room. After the Chargers pushed it to match point, however, they gave one away before Perez finished a scramble play with a spectacular effort. Still, the visitors persisted and sent the game back to match point twice—the latter seeing Plagata finish the evening with one final swing.

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