Union, N.J. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Volleyball team was eliminated from the Skyline Conference Tournament on Thursday night by top-seeded and #5 Kean by scores of 11-25, 24-26 and 16-25. Freshman Marc Barreda (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led the Mount's offensive attack with 10 kills in the contest.
 
After dropping the first set on Thursday, the Mount played a second set that featured 11 ties and five lead changes. The Dolphins used a 7-2 run late in the middle stanza to pull in front 24-21 on a Kean attack error. Six of the seven points for the Dolphins came on Cougar miscues, before Kean rallied to score the final five points of the frame to move in front 2-0 in the match.
 
Kean used a 5-0 run in the middle stages of the third set to open a 12-6 lead and did not allow the Dolphins closer than three points the remainder of the night. The Dolphins managed consecutive points only once in the third set, posting a 3-0 spurt to cut its disadvantage to 12-9 on a Barreda kill.
 
Barreda was the only player in the match to reach double-figures in kills on the night and finished the match hitting .400 for the Dolphins. He added three digs in the tilt for the Dolphins. Freshman Michael Kochen (Holbrook, N.Y.) registered six kills for the Mount to go along with two digs.
 
Senior James DiGiovanni (Bay Shore, N.Y.) handed out 16 assists for Mount Saint Vincent and lifted six digs, with sophomore Tyler Cucullu (Henderson, Nev.) posting three aces, two digs and a block. T.J. Barczik (Lake Grove, N.Y.) lifted a team-high eight digs and Brett Holiday (Stratford, N.J.) finished with a pair of total blocks.
 
Kean was led by nine kills from Jacob Kaufman who closed a strong night with four aces, five digs and four blocks. Shady Taylor totaled seven blocks for the Cougars and Ron Dunn handed out a match-high 23 assists. John Cunningham led the team with seven digs in the match.
 
Overall, Kean held the edge in kills 34-23 and hit .253 in the match against a .012 effort from the Dolphins. The Cougars held a slim 7-5 advantage in aces and dominated the net with an 11-1 edge in total team blocks.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 16-10 overall on the season. 

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