Albany, N.Y. – Led by 20 kills from freshman
Jacob Johnson (Henderson, Nev.) and a career-high 62 assists from junior
James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.), the College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team outlasted Sage on Tuesday night by scores of 27-29, 25-23, 25-20, 20-25 and 15-13. With the win, the Dolphins have clinched the third seed in Saturday's Skyline Conference Tournament.
The Dolphins fell behind by a set on Tuesday after hitting -.075 in the first set. The Mount committed 12 attack errors in the frame and saw Sage put away 13 winners to pull in front. Dylan Krowicki led the Gators with six winners and a .333 hitting percentage in the opening frame.
Mount Saint Vincent rallied in the second set with 13 kills to even the match and then hit a red-hot .500 as a team in the third stanza to pull in front 2-1.
Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) and Johnson each totaled six kills for the Dolphins, with Cucullu adding three blocks.
The Gators rebounded in the fourth to force the deciding set with 11 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Sage, who took advantage of eight Mount Saint Vincent attack errors and four service errors, was led by five kills and a perfect 1.000 attack percentage from Krowicki.
In a tightly contested fifth set, Mount Saint Vincent broke a 9-9 tie in the late stages of the frame with six of the final 10 points to secure the win and the berth in the championship tournament.
Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.),
Timothy Kolodny (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Johnson and Cucullu all posted winners over the final stretch for the Dolphins.
Johnson led four Mount Saint Vincent players in the match with double figures in kills with a team-high 20. Johnson also added four digs and two blocks for the Dolphins in the win. Cucullu finished up a strong match with 19 kills, seven digs and four total blocks.
Kolodny posted a season-high 12 kills for Mount Saint Vincent and hit .308 in the match. He added a pair of aces and nine digs in the victory. Holiday reached double-figures in kills for the third time this season on Tuesday with 11 winners in the contest. He hit .304 for the Dolphins and posted three digs and two total blocks.
DiGiovanni continued his strong junior season on Tuesday with a career-high 62 assists against the Gators. He picked up two kills in the match and recorded nine digs. He bettered his previous career-high in assists by 14.
T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) totaled a match-high 14 digs.
Sage got a match-high 26 kills from Krowicki who hit an efficient .353 in the match. He added nine digs and two blocks for the Gators. Matthew DeGeyter handed out a team-high 52 assists in the match and Cory Gransbury lifted a team-high 12 digs.
Overall in the match, Mount Saint Vincent held a 68-57 advantage in kills and hit .240 as a team in the match. The Dolphins posted a slim 4-3 edge in service aces, while Sage held a 13.5-9 advantage in total team blocks.
With Tuesday's win, Mount Saint Vincent wraps up the regular season at 15-10 overall and at 9-5 in league play. The Dolphins will be back in action again on Saturday in the semifinal round of the conference tournament. The Dolphins will take on second seeded Ramapo at 3:30 p.m. at Harwood Arena on the campus of Kean University.
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