Mahwah, N.J. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team suffered its second straight conference loss on Thursday with a 20-25, 16-25, 17-25 loss on the road at Ramapo.
Jacob Johnson (Henderson, Nev.) led the team with 13 kills and
James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.) handed out 32 assists.
Thursday's match featured 17 ties, but the lead changed just seven times in the contest.
Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) gave the Dolphins a 9-8 lead in a tight first set, but the Roadrunners used an 8-2 run to open a 16-11 advantage. The Mount sliced the Ramapo lead to 22-19 late in the set on a Johnson kill, but saw Ramapo close the set with three of the final four points to pull in front 1-0.
Mount Saint Vincent hit -.034 in the second set, with Ramapo hitting .269 as a unit to take the two set advantage. The Dolphins moved in front 2-1 early in the frame, but saw Ramapo score the next four points to take the lead for good in the stanza. The Mount scored consecutive points just twice in the middle set.
The Roadrunners would put the match away in the third on the strength of a 5-0 and 8-0 run in the set. The five point run opened a 6-3 lead for Ramapo and the eight point stretch gave the Roadrunners a 21-13 advantage. The 8-0 run was keyed by four service aces and three miscues from the Mount.
Ramapo had nine different players record a kill in the match and hit .284 as a team. Ahjon Petty led the way with nine kills and hit .368, with Mike Kane adding five winners and hitting .545 to go along with four blocks. Andrew Balint recorded 25 assists and Kurt MacDonald lifted a match-high nine digs.
Johnson wrapped up the contest with a match-high 13 kills and hit .296 for the Dolphins. He added six digs and a pair of blocks for the Mount. Cucullu finished up with 11 winners and lifted a team-high seven digs.
DiGiovanni led all players with 32 assists on Thursday and chipped in with a kill and three digs.
Timothy Kolodny (Woodland Hills, Calif.) matched Johnson with six digs and
T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) added five digs.
Overall for the match, Ramapo held a slim 35-33 edge in kills and a 7-2 advantage in service aces. The Roadrunners also posted a 6-4 edge in total team blocks in the match.
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 11-8 overall on the season and to 5-3 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will return home on Saturday when they welcome the Roadrunners and NJCU to the Peter Jay Sharp Center. Matches will get underway at 11:30 a.m.
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