Men's Volleyball Advances to NECVA Championship

Photo by Wayne Gehman

Juniors Josh Kerr and Ed Lunney go up for a block in last weekend's tournament. This weekend the Royals head to Ramapo College in New Jersey for the NECVA Championship Tournament.

The men's volleyball team fell to #11 D'Youville College 3-2 but rebounded to defeat Nazareth College 3-1 in men's volleyball in the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Western Division Tournament on Saturday at home. EMU finished in third place and advances to the NECVA championship tournament on April 8 and 9 at Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J.

EMU rebounded after losing the first two games against D'Youville to tie the match at 2- 2, but dropped the decisive fifth match. The Spartans took the match by game scores of 30-22, 30-27, 26-30, 20-30, and 15- 10. In the second match, EMU defeated Nazareth by game scores of 30-27, 31-29, 28-30, and 30-27.

In the first match, junior Josh Kerr led the Royals' attack with 18 kills and also had seven digs. Sophomore Andrew Moore had 14 kills and six digs. Sophomore Dominick Porter accumulated 11 kills, three digs, and three solo blocks. Junior Nate Artz contributed 11 kills. First-year setter Ben Yoder recorded 57 assists for an average of 11.4 per game while sophomore libero Ryan Detweiler added 20 digs.

The Spartans were led by junior Mike Rozek's 20 kills and four total blocks. Sophomore Clinton Gilliland had 19 kills and five total blocks. Sophomore John Colosi narrowly missed a doubledouble with 16 kills and nine digs.

First-year John Kofmehl had 60 assists while sophomore Chris Flierl and senior Aaron Miller had 15 and 11 digs respectively. DYC had 15 blocks as a team.

In the third-place match, junior Ed Lunney had a strong performance with 20 kills and six total blocks. Porter had 16 kills and five digs. Kerr notched 13 kills, eight digs and four total blocks. Moore had six kills and 10 digs. Yoder accumulated 57 assists for an average of 14.3 per game and Detweiler collected 11 digs.

The Golden Flyers were led by first-year Andrew Zguta's 26 kills and nine digs. Fellow first-year Tom Maving had a double-double with 21 kills and 11 digs along with two blocks. Sophomore Shaun Tyszka had 17 kills, four digs, and two blocks. Sophomore setter Geoff O'Conner had 66 assists for an average of 16.5 per game along with six digs. Junior Steve England had 13 digs at the libero position. First-year Adam DiCicco had 10 digs for NC.