DUDLEY, Mass. – Nichols men's volleyball came out of its home tri-match slate with two more victories, as the Bison took down Sage in straight-sets, before defeating Rivier in five sets to advance to 9-3 on the season and extend their winning streak to eight matches.
 
Nichols won by set scores of 25-9, 25-16, 25-21 over the Gators before completing a reverse sweep of the Raiders, 23-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-10.

The Bison will once again look to defend home court at the Nichols Athletic Center in a mid-week matchup against Regis (MA) on Wednesday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
 
Nichols 3, Sage 0
 
Nichols breezed by the visiting Gators in the opening match of the day, taking all three sets handily. The Bison hit .323 on offense while limiting Sage to a .000 hitting percentage.
 
27 assists came off the hands of junior setter Nick Martin, who helped pace the Bison's offensive attack. Graduate right side Carlos Mercado (.667) and freshman outside Adam Bender (.308) each led the team with seven kills apiece. Mercado added four services aces through two sets.
 
On defense, Martin (6) and senior defensive specialist Matthew Zawistowski (5) recorded 11 of the team's 19 digs.
 
Nichols 3, Rivier 2
 
Rivier raced out to a 2-0 advantage and looked to be in the driver's seat as the two teams switched sides heading into the third set.
 
Nichols' offense would come alive in the third set, hitting at its highest percentage of the match thus far (.310). Graduate right side Luis Martinez notched five kills, followed by junior middle Tanner Soracco's three kills at a .750 clip to give the Bison a 25-23 set victory and a fighting chance.
 
The fourth set was highly contested, with Rivier pulling within one at 20-19 on a Chris Lezon kill. From there, Nichols would rattle off four-straight points, bookended by sophomore middle Dylan Knapp and Martinez, to put the fourth set out of reach for the Raiders.
 
The Bison jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the final set, with Soracco hammering home two-straight service aces to give Nichols a four-point cushion. The two teams would switch sides of the court on a Lezon service error, putting the Bison up 8-5. The two teams would trade kills on the following five points, keeping Nichols in front 10-8. Leading by just one at 11-10, Nichols would finish the match on a 4-0 run, with Rivier making errors on four-consecutive plays to give the Bison their ninth win of the season and their eighth in a row.
 
Martinez finished with 18 kills at a .306 clip in the win. Senior outside Jake Harasyko added nine kills, hitting .350.
 
Junior setter Dylan Urbanski dished out 49 assists, assisting on 70% of the 70 points scored in the match.
 
Senior libero Nick Basco recorded nine digs and zero reception errors in the triumph, followed behind closely by Mercado's eight digs.