DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols men's volleyball team lost in a five-set thriller to No. 12 ranked Wentworth on Tuesday night at the Nichols Athletic Center on a night honoring the three members of the senior class. The Bison fell by set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 25-21, 8-15 to drop to 18-6 (5-0 NECC), while the Leopards advanced their winning streak to 15 matches, jumping to 18-6 (10-0 GNAC).
Finding themselves trailing 14-9 midway through the opening set, the Bison rallied for five-straight points, with much of it coming from the service line, as
Luis Martinez powered four-consecutive aces past the Leopards. Nichols took its first lead of the match after trailing by as much as five earlier in the set as part of a three-point swing due to Wentworth errors, making it 18-16. Both sides would trade leads twice more in the remainder of the set, but following a pair of kills from
Dylan Knapp and
Tanner Soracco which made it 23-21, the Bison never looked back taking the first set by a pair.
After trailing 3-0 to start the second, Nichols would go on a 7-0 run to take a four-point lead, with Martinez hammering home three kills over that stretch. Wentworth would counter with a 6-2 run of their own, capped off by a block by Colin Stockon and Hunter Oshman to tie things up at nine-all. The Bison would soon find some separation at 14-10 as a pair of kills and Wentworth attack errors gave the home team a momentary four-point cushion before the Leopards would rattle off three-straight points, capped off by an Oshman ace, to cut the lead to just one. The set was highly contested through the middle stages, but it was Wentworth who persisted on offense, adding a Stockton ace and Oshman kill on top of a Martinez service error to take a 21-19 lead late in the game. With the lead in hand, Wentworth shortly evened the match at 1-1.
Tight action continued in third set, as neither side was willing to give an inch. Wentworth would open up its largest lead since 3-0 when Sam Etter landed a kill to make it 18-15. A pair of kills from Knapp and
Carlos Mercado to make it 23-19 was too little, too late as the visitors took a 2-1 advantage with a 25-19 third set triumph.
The Leopards once again started with the lead in the fourth, but the Bison scored three-straight when a Martinez kill was sandwiched by a pair of Wentworth errors to put the home side in front, 8-7. Both squads traded points in the middle part of the set, with Nichols finally pulling in front for good when Mercado's kill jumpstarted a four-point run to give the Bison a 24-20 lead. After a Stockton kill spoiled the first set point,
Jake Harasyko sent the match to five with a kill on the next try.
Wentworth held an 8-5 lead at the side-switch in the fifth thanks in part to three attack errors and two service errors from the Bison. After cutting the deficit to 9-7, Nichols was unable to put a run together down the stretch which led to the loss in the home finale.
Nichols picked up 53 kills, swinging at a team percentage of .228 in the setback. Martinez powered home 19 kills, followed by Mercado (12), Soracco (11), Knapp (7), and
Dylan Urbanski (5). Urbanski dished out 42 of the team's 55 assists while picking up nine blocks and a pair of blocks.
Nicholas Basco also picked up nine digs in the loss, as Soracco, Mercado, and Knapp finished with two block assists each. Martinez was impressive from the service line with five aces.
The Bison now hop back into New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play this upcoming weekend with a pair of matches in the Empire State. The league action kicks back up on Saturday when Nichols faces SUNY Poly in Utica before traveling to Maxcy Field House to take on SUNY Potsdam the following day.
