UTICA, N.Y. (3/29/24) – The No. 11 Nichols College men's volleyball team won its fifth straight match on Friday night, taking down SUNY Poly in straight sets, 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) at Campus Center Gym. The win also comes as the fifth consecutive sweep for the Bison.
Nichols improves to 21-4 (6-0 NEVC), while SUNY Poly slips to 12-14 (3-2 NEVC).
Graduate
Jack Normandin led the Bison to victory with 19 kills and 10 digs, chalking up his third double-double of the season with a .692 hitting percentage. Senior
Tanner Soracco and junior
Dylan Knapp each recorded 10 kills, with Soracco also scoring 9 digs. Defensively, freshman libero Cade Benardi paced the Bison with 12 digs, while graduate
Carlos Mercado aided in the effort with a career-high 45 assists.
Nichols used five straight points to take a 9-6 lead in the first set, which allowed them enough space to maintain the lead the rest of the way through. Late in the set, the Bison lead grew to 19-12 after a Knapp kill was followed by three straight Wildcat errors, which lifted them to an eventual 25-19 win in the set.
In the second set, Nichols mounted an early 4-0 run to build a 10-5 advantage. The Bison then scored six of the next 10 points to strengthen their lead to 16-9 before the Wildcats went on an 8-2 run to pull within one at 18-17. After a brief stretch of back-and-forth play, the Bison gained some separation with a 4-0 run, with three of the points stemming from Wildcat errors, bringing the action to set point at 24-19. Freshman
Bryce Bonville then finished off the set at 25-20, which gave the Herd a 2-0 lead in the match.
Nichols held the lead for the majority of the third set after establishing a massive 14-4 advantage early on, with four players recording multiple kills in the process. The rest of the way, the Bison went point-for-point with the Wildcats, with both sides trading the final four points, as Knapp secured the victory for Nichols on a kill, 25-18.
The regular season comes to a close on Saturday afternoon, when the Bison travel north to NVU Johnson (2-14, 0-5 NEVC) for a 1:00 PM opening serve at Carter Varsity Gym.
