Albany, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team returned to action on Saturday, opening Skyline Conference play with a 22-25, 23-25, 23-25 loss to New Jersey City University and a 25-23, 25-14, 25-13 victory over Sage. Freshman Marc Barreda (Bay Shore, N.Y.) had a strong day for the Mount, totaling nine kills in each contest.
 
In Saturday's opener, the Mount suffered its first league loss of the season after hitting -.028 as a team. The Dolphins committed 23 attack errors over the final two stanzas against the Gothic Knights against 16 kills.
 
Barreda led the team against NJCU with nine winners and equaled the team-high with six digs. Michael Kochen (Holbrook, N.Y.) put away six winners for the Mount in the match, lifting six digs and leading the team with two blocks.
 
Senior Reginald Owens (Staten Island, N.Y.) totaled four kills in the loss and sophomore Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) posted four kills and a pair of digs in his season debut. Logan Dickover (Las Vegas, Nev.) led all players in the contest with 16 assists.
 
NJCU was paced by eight winners from Sheldon Coure and 12 digs from Nick Poh. Jalen Sorrell led all players with eight total blocks and Eric Maldonado handed out a team-high 12 assists.
 
For the match, Mount Saint Vincent held a 28-27 advantage in kills and a 5-3 edge in service aces. The Gothic Knights rounded out the contest with a 10-3 advantage in total team blocks.
 
Mount Saint Vincent rebounded in the second match of the day, hitting an efficient .329 against the host Gators. The Dolphins hit better than .300 in two of the three sets, including at a .429 clip in the middle stanza.
 
Barreda continued the strong start to his collegiate career with nine more kills, adding and ace, four digs and four total blocks to the winning effort. Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.) finished with seven winners in the victory, hitting .583 for the Dolphins, and posting three blocks.
 
Senior James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.) handed out 24 assists for Mount Saint Vincent and contributed four kills, three blocks and a team-high two service aces. Cucullu rounded out the match with five winners and a pair of blocks. Sophomore T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) led all players with 10 digs.
 
Bailey Cecchi finished with a match-high 10 kills for Sage, with Tyler Bastos handing out a team-high 19 assists in the match.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Vincent held a 34-23 advantage in kills and a 6-5 edge in aces. The Dolphins also won the battle at the net, recording a 9-2 advantage in total team blocks.
 
With Saturday's split, Mount Saint Vincent moves to 4-2 overall on the season and to 1-1 in conference play. Next up for the Dolphins is a non-conference home match with Culinary. Match time with the Steels is scheduled for 8:45 p.m.

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