Second round thriller ends volleyball’s run in conference tournament
Brandon Ratliff blocks in a regular season game. The Royals finished 13-7 and will host the Molten Final Four.
After defeating Baruch College (11-11) in the first round of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association’s 2004 championship tournament on April 2, the men’s volleyball team fell to Rivier College in the quarterfinal round on Saturday, April 3.
Rivier lost in four games in the finals against Medaille College, whose tournament win gave them an automatic bid to the Molten Final Four, which will be held at EMU April 16-18.
Going into the weekend’s tournament, EMU was ranked third in the conference in a tiewith D’Youville, NECVA champions, Medaille, were ranked fifth. On Friday’s game against Baruch, Nick Bernardo and Jay Sawicki led the Royals’ offensive charge with 11 and nine kills, respectively. Freshmen Mark Holloway and Brandon Ratliff each contributed eight and graduate student Allan Reesor-McDowell added five. Bryce Bergey had 32 assists and five digs. Ratliff had six digs and Bernardo had seven. Game scores against Baruch favored the Royals 30-16, 30-25, and 30-25, and EMU led the offense of the match with 49 kills to Baruch’s 24.
Saturday’s match against number one seed Rivier was a tight three-game match-up. The game scores were 32-30, 30-28, and 30-26, with Royals walking away with a loss. Bernardo had 15 kills and eight digs for the day. Ratliff also ended the match with eight digs and a respectable 13 kills. Sawicki contributed 14 kills, rounding out the Royals, who had kills in the double-digits.
The Molten Final Four is to be hosted by EMU and thus far will include Medaille and EMU representing the NECVA conference, UC Santa Cruz, the number two seed from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (ACVA) conference, and the fourth spot has yet to be decided. The team continues to prepare for the upcoming national championship and to face some of the top Division III schools in the United States.
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