UTICA, N.Y. – The Nichols men's volleyball team, fresh off its first NCAA Division III regional ranking in program history, downed SUNY Poly in straight sets on Saturday afternoon at the Wildcat Field House to remain unbeaten in NECC play. The Bison won by set scores of 25-20, 28-26, 25-20 to advance to 19-6 (6-0 NECC), while the Wildcats dropped to 9-11 (3-2 NECC).
 
Nichols started the match on a 4-0 run capped off by an ace from Dylan Urbanski. Later in the first, SUNY Poly would get within two points following a Bison attack error and a Jason Aubrey kill to make it 8-6. That was as close as the home team would get, however, as a combined seven kills from Luis Martinez (4) and Carlos Mercado (3) would help power the Bison to a five-point win.
 
The Wildcats would take a 4-1 lead early in the second, but Nichols would soon battle back with a five-point swing with a Dylan Knapp ace, Tanner Soracco kill, and Jake Harasyko putaway sandwiched by SUNY Poly errors, putting the Bison up 6-4. After both sides tied the match back up four times, the Wildcats finally pulled ahead after scoring five-straight to make it 14-9. Nichols would continue to battle through the middle stages of the set, finally tying the match up on a four-point swing, with a Bison block, an ace, and a kill leading to a SUNY Poly timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Harasyko recorded a kill on a feed from Nick Martin to make it 20-19, giving the Bison its first lead since 8-7. Despite a valiant effort from the Wildcats to even up the match at 1-1, the Bison prevailed on a Knapp kill and a block from Soracco and Harasyko on successive rallies to win 28-26 and send the match to a third set with the Bison in control.
 
In a highly contested third set, Nichols earned its largest lead at 15-12 on a pair of Mercado kills. Later on, following a Wildcats block, Martinez and Knapp would earn back-to-back kills to give Nichols a four-point cushion. Up 21-18, Harasyko sided out with a big kill to put the Bison back up by four, followed by a Martinez service ace to make it 23-18, which proved to be the exclamation point in the victory.
 
Both Martin and Urbanski teamed up to fish out 33 of the team's 36 assists on the match, with the Bison recording 38 total kills at a .174 team percentage. Mercado's 10 kills led the efforts, followed by Martinez with nine, Soracco with eight, Knapp with seven, and Harasyko with four. Nichols had eight service aces on the match, with Knapp leading the charge with two, while also recording a solo block and a pair of block assists for two total blocks. Nicholas Basco dug seven Wildcat attacks in the decision, followed by Martinez and Soracco with four apiece.
 
Nichols completes its weekend trip to the Empire State with a Sunday noontime showdown with NECC opponent SUNY Potsdam at the Maxcy Field House.