Riverdale, N.Y. – Under the direction of second year Head Coach Nelson Kwok, the College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team will open the 2015 season on Saturday when it takes on Albertus Magnus and Southern Vermont at the Peter Jay Sharp Center. The Dolphins, who were picked third in the Skyline Conference Preseason Poll, will play the first of nine home dates on Saturday.
 
Mount Saint Vincent welcomes back a core that led the team to its first winning season and first appearance in the Skyline Conference Tournament since the 2011 campaign.
 
Sophomore Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) returns after leading the country in aces per set in 2014, averaging 0.75 per set as a freshman. Cucullu closed out his first collegiate seasons second on the squad in kills with 262, first in aces with 66, third in digs with 143 and second in total blocks with 50. Cucullu finished the 2014 season tied for the team lead in double-doubles on his way to being named First Team All-Skyline Conference.
 
Cucullu's classmates T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y) and Kevin Magee (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) also return for their second season with the Dolphins in 2015. Barczik had a standout first season with the Mount in 2014, leading the team in digs with 260, good for a team-high average of 2.86 digs per set. He added nine kills and 32 assists for the Dolphins, serving as the team's libero. Magee totaled 10 kills and five blocks for the Mount covering 21 sets as a freshman a season ago.
 
Mount Saint Vincent will lean on the experience of four seniors in 2015, with Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.), James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.), Kristopher Jones (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Reginald Owens (Staten Island, N.Y.) closing out their careers in 2015. Holiday returns after leading the team in total blocks as a junior with 76 and has totaled 176 in his first three seasons with the Mount. Holiday closed out the 2014 season third on the team in kills with 148 and has put away 516 career winners entering Saturday's season opener.
 
DiGiovanni has served as the team's primary setter in each of the last two seasons and appeared in 89 of the squad's 91 sets in 2014. He paced the team with a career-best 786 assists, good for an average of just shy of nine helpers per set. He has handed out 1,450 career helpers heading into Saturday's action and rounded out his junior season fourth on the team in digs and third on the team in total blocks. He finished the 2014 season even with Cucullu for the team lead in double-doubles with two.
 
Owens closed out the 2014 year with 38 kills in 87 sets, adding 37 total blocks for the Mount. In 55 sets in 2014, Jones recorded 12 digs and three service aces for Mount Saint Vincent.
 
In addition to the core of returning players, Kwok and the Dolphins will turn to a talented group of newcomers to make an immediate impact in 2015. The freshmen class includes Michael Barfield (Setter/DS – Farmingville, N.Y.), Sean O'Connor (MH – Rockaway Beach, N.Y.), Neven Skoblar (OH/MB – San Pedro, Calif.), Marc Barreda (OH/OPP – Bay Shore, N.Y.), Logan Dickover (S – Las Vegas, Nev.), Michael Kochen (OH – Holbrook, N.Y.), Nathaniel Baluyot (L – Waipahu, Hawaii) and Edwin Carrera (UTL – Los Angeles, Calif.)
 
Mount Saint Vincent, who finished the 2014 season at 15-11 overall and 9-5 in league play, will open the year with a five match home stand. Following Saturday's matches, the Dolphins will host Medgar Evers on January 27 starting at 7:00 p.m.

Like Mount Saint Vincent Athletics onFacebookand Follow the Dolphins onTwitter.