NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to the Hobart College Statesmen on Saturday morning in Emerson Gym, falling to the visitors, 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-16).

Wheaton slips to 8-12 on the year with the loss, while the Statesmen improve to 11-11 overall with the sweep victory.

First years Ryan Rathbun (North Kingstown, R.I.) and Masiah Prak (Coventry, R.I.) led the Lyons with five kills each. Prak earned the mark on a slightly more efficient hitting percentage of .231, while sophomore Jack Kenyon (Westerly, R.I.) and first year R. Bennett Chiappetta (Middlefield, Conn.) both finished with four kills. First year Jacob Hoy (Essex Junction, Vt.) had 20 assists and sophomore Connor Lloyd (Swansea, Mass.) finished with a team-high four digs. 

Junior Noah DeLong (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) led the floor with 11 kills on .500 hitting, finishing as the only Statesman with more than 10 kills. First year Harry Fromberg (Bridgewater, N.J.) had nine kills on .400 hitting while junior Zack Farren (Southbury, Conn.) finished with 20 assists. Junior Gavin Meador (Dover, Pa.) had the game-high in digs with 14. 

Kills from Rathbun and Kenyon opened up the game for Wheaton, but the visiting Statesmen were able to respond with an immediate 9-3 scoring run to take the lead at 9-5. Rathbun and sophomore Jimmy Ciummo (Barrington, R.I.) slowed down the visitor's momentum with a kill each, but Hobart was well in control. Kills from DeLong and Fromberg canceled out the Lyons' production, and the Statesmen were first to 20 points at 20-13. A pair of errors by Wheaton gave it a 22-13 advantage, but the Statesmen made four more errors to keep the door open for the Lyons. The Lyons were unable to exploit the chance as Hobart slammed the door shut to take the set 25-17.

Hobart opened the second set with another big scoring run. The Statesmen took off for an early 5-1 lead behind a kill from DeLong. Chiappetta and Rathbun both put down a kill, but it was only enough to keep pace with their opponent as Hobart took a 10-5 lead. DeLong and Fromberg each put down kills of their own as the Statesmen exploded for a 7-1 scoring run to take control of the set at 18-7. Three straight attacking errors from Hobart got the Lyons to 10 points, but two points for the Statesmen saw them continue their dominance at 20-10. Rathbun and Prak both put down kills down the stretch, but Hobart led by too many points for the Lyons to gain any momentum before the set ended at 25-18. 

Wheaton found itself down early on in the third set as well. The Statesmen quickly climbed to a 6-1 lead after a number of Lyon errors. Kenyon and Chiappetta responded by completing two kills, while Hobart showed an uncharacteristic lack of discipline with three errors to make it 9-6. Prak put down his next attempt while DeLong missed the floor boundaries to bring the Lyons even closer at 11-9, but that would be as close as they would get. Another 5-0 scoring run from Hobart put them ahead 18-10, and not even one more kill from Chiappetta could get Wheaton back into the game. The Lyons fell in the final set 25-16 to complete the sweep for Hobart. 

Wheaton will return to the floor later this afternoon at 3:00 pm as the tri-match continues inside of Emerson Gymnasium. Hobart will also compete later today as it takes on No. 12 Lasell University.