No. 1 Nichols, No. 2 Eastern Nazarene Punch Ticket to Title Match
The top-seeded Nichols College bested fourth-seeded SUNY Poly in four sets in the New England Volleyball Conference (NEVC) semi-final round on Thursday night at the Nichols Athletic Center. The Bison won by set scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-12, and 25-12.
No. 1 Nichols advances to the NEVC Championship for the third consecutive season, improving to 23-4 (7-0 NEVC) overall. SUNY Poly, who was limited to a .127 hitting percentage on the night, finishes the season 14-16 (5-3 NEVC). The win also marks a new single-season program record for the Bison.
Graduate outside hitter Jack Normandin led the way for the Bison by recording 16 kills on 26 attempts for a .462 hitting percentage, while also scoring six service aces in the winning effort. Junior Dylan Knapp hit a match-high .692 clip, while also tying both freshman Bryce Bonville and senior Tanner Soracco with nine kills. The offense was sparked by a match-high 40 assists from graduate Carlos Mercado. The Bison hit a combined .337 through the four sets.
In the opening set, the two teams found themselves deadlocked at an early 6-6 tie before Normandin fired off four straight kills to give the Bison a 10-6 edge. The Wildcats managed to steal a point back, but Nichols rallied for another 4-0 run capped by a Normandin ace to up the Bison lead to 14-7. The two teams traded points the rest of the set, with Nichols claiming the win, 25-16.
The Wildcats came out in the second set with authority and quickly found themselves up 9-6. The Bison rebounded by taking four of the next five points, including a pair of kills from Mercado to bring the score to a level 10-10. From there, the points pinballed between the two sides until the Wildcats scored on back-to-back kills to take a 17-15 lead, leading up to an eventual 25-22 second set victory for SUNY Poly to tie the match at 1-1.
The Bison reassembled in the third set, earning a 10-4 lead with kills from Normandin and Bonville. Shortly thereafter, Bonville recorded a five-point service run that was stamped with a Knapp kill to further the Bison lead to 16-5, putting the set well out of reach. Despite a late resurgence, the Wildcats would never recover as the Bison marched onward to a 25-12 third set win.
In the final frame, the Bison climbed out to an early 6-0 lead, and later led by as many as 12 points at 20-8. The Wildcats again struggled to narrow the deficit, with Nichols finishing the job by way of a 25-12 win.
In the second semifinal match-up of the night, the second-seeded Eastern Nazarene College posted a 3-1 victory over No. 3 seed Endicott College to punch its ticket to the NEVC Championship match for the first time in program history.
Eastern Nazarene captured the first set 25-21 to construct a 1-0 lead. The Lions eked out a 27-25 decision in the second set to widen the margin to 2-0. Endicott bounced back to claim the third frame 25-23, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
The hosts responded with a 26-24 win in the fourth to secure its sixth-consecutive victory.
Alejandro Garcia Fernandez notched a match-high 28 kills to go with 10 digs, while Jacob Lotts posted eight kills and five total blocks.
Jacob Zarges chipped in with six kills and a team-best four aces. Delfy Soler added eight digs and five kills while Nathan Caldwell registered seven digs.
Aaron Huang finished with 40 assists, six digs, and a pair of service aces.
Aidan Iacovelli paced Endicott with 15 kills and eight digs while Dean Warner chalked up nine kills and Gavin Emenaker recorded 39 assists to go with eight digs.
Eastern Nazarene travels to top-seeded Nichols April 13 for the NEVC Championship match at 7:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE NEVC
The NEVC is a NCAA Division III single-sport conference sponsoring the sport of men’s volleyball. The conference is comprised of eight institutions, Bard College, Eastern Nazarene College, Endicott College, Nichols College, Northern Vermont University – Johnson, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Potsdam and Russell Sage College.