DUDLEY, Mass. (2/26/2025) – The Nichols College men's volleyball swept future conference opponent Curry College in three sets (25-9, 25-20, 25-17) at the Nichols Athletic Center on Wednesday night.

The Bison improve to 8-11 (1-0 NEVC) with the home victory, while the Colonels fall to 4-8. The win also comes as the first for coaches Hayden West-Mather and Emme Price, who each took the helm for the program earlier this week.

The Bison were well represented on the scoresheet Wednesday, beginning with Bryce Bonville's career-best 13 kills behind .458 (13-2-24) hitting, with four digs and two aces. Chandler Olson set the plays up with 37 assists, and also matched Bonville's four digs and two service aces, while Connor DeSousa paced the defense with a team-high nine digs in just his fourth appearance this season. As a team, Nichols combined for 42 total kills, and out-hit the Colonels by a .326 to -.015 margin.

Nichols quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, before increasing that lead to 7-1 with consecutive aces by Adam Vincent. Over the next several rallies, Nichols outscored the Colonels 8-6 to increase their lead to eight at 15-7, moments before firing off a separate 5-1 run to put the set out of reach, 20-8, with Vincent adding three kills. The first-set onslaught continued from there, with Nichols scoring the final five points to win the frame by a landslide, 25-9.

It was much more tick-for-tack affair for the early portions of the second set, with Nichols clinging to a three-point lead of 9-6. The Bison and the Colonels continued to trade points through the midway part of the set, until Nichols fired off a 5-2 run to gain control of the score with a 19-11 advantage in hand. Curry continued to put up a solid fight the rest of the way, but couldn't make up the difference as Nichols pressed on to win 25-20, giving themselves a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

The Bison closed it out in the third set, as they never trailed from the opening serve. Nichols kicked it all off with a lopsided 11-4 lead, capped off by a Bonville ace, giving themselves enough insurance to seal the win. The Bison went of to do just that, completing the sweep via a 25-17 victory in the third.

The Bison will return to ranked play on Saturday, February 29^th as they travel to No. 17 Lasell University (13-4, 4-1 GNAC). First serve is scheduled for 7:00 PM at the Lasell Athletic Center.