NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's volleyball team was defeated by visiting Rivier University, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-20), this evening at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 6-6 on the season, while the Raiders improve to 7-8.
Rivier's attack was outstanding all night, registering a .418 mark, while hitting .500 in the opening set and .435 in the second frame. Wheaton hit .163 with its best hitting effort coming in the opening set at .240.
The Lyons were led by sophomore outside hitter Connor Lloyd (Swansea, Mass.) with a match-high 12 kills on a .348 hitting clip to go with a pair of blocks, while classmate Jack Kenyon (Westerly, R.I.) swung for six kills, picked up a dig and got up for a block assist. First year outside hitter R. Bennett Chiappetta (Middlefield, Conn.) put away six kills on a .333 hitting clip and added three digs and a block assist. First year setter Sebastian DeCubellis (Lincoln, R.I.) set for a match-best 26 assists in addition to four digs and a block assist.
First year Kenji Clark (Culver City, Calif.) put down 10 kills and fired an ace to lead Rivier. He added four digs and a pair of block assists for the Raiders, while sophomore setter Cade Barron (Tewksbury, Mass.) set for 15 assists, picked up six digs, fired an ace and got up for a pair of blocks, while helping his offense directly with eight kills behind a .636 hitting mark. Junior middle blocker Tyler Dickinson (Lincoln, R.I.) hit a torrid .727 to fuel eight kills and added a pair of block assists.
The teams traded points in the opening set with Rivier neither trailing nor leading by more than two before Wheaton first year middle blocker Jeremy Bullard-Smith (Boston, Mass.) put down a kill that pulled the home team even at 13-13. The Raiders scored the next three points to take a 16-13 margin, before first year outside hitter Masiah Prak (Coventry, R.I.) cut the deficit to 20-18 with a kill for the Lyons. Rivier tallied five of the final six points to close out the set and give the visitors 1-0 match lead.
Kenyon swung for a kill to knot the second set early at 4-4. The Raiders put together a 9-3 run, capped by a Barron kill to give them a 13-7 cushion. Wheaton responded with five unanswered points, including a kill from Kenyon to make it a one-point set at 13-12. Rivier punched back with five of the next six points, paced by a pair of kills from Dickinson, to give the Raiders an 18-13 advantage. Sophomore middle blocker Jimmy Ciummo (Barrington, R.I.) put down a kill to bring the Lyons within 21-17, before Rivier scored the final four points of the frame to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Raiders took an early 8-3 lead in the third set, behind four kills from Clark and later maintained a 14-9 lead. Wheaton pulled within a point at 15-14 after an ace from DeCubellis, but it was as close as the home team would get for the rest of the match. Rivier ripped off five of the next six points to increase its lead to 20-15, before the Lyons battled back one last time with four of five points to cut the difference to 21-19. The Raiders finished the match with four of the final five points to take the final frame.
Wheaton returns to the court on Saturday, February 21 when it travels to Boston, Mass. for a tri-match with host Wentworth Institute of Technology and Stevens Institute of Technology at 10:00 a.m., while Rivier plays again on February 25 when it returns to the Bay State to take on Regis College (Mass.) in Weston at 7:00 p.m.
