Albany, NY- The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball team hosted Wells College and Emmanuel College on Saturday in a tri-match. Wells picked up a win in the first match, topping Sage, 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 15-11). Wells then beat Emmanuel, 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-19) to improve to 6-3. Sage then beat Emmanuel, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-22) in the final match. Sage is now 3-5 overall, while Emmanuel drops to 2-5 on the year.
Match # 1
Against Wells, the senior duo of outside hitters Bailey Cecchi (Agawam, MA/Agawam) and Ryan Guyton (Lockport, NY/Lockport) added 23 and 21 kills, respectively. Cecchi collected 10 digs with a .941 reception percentage with only 1 error in 16 attempts with five block assists. Guyton added a .269 attack percentage with 13 digs, an ace and a block assist. Guyton only had one reception error in his 26 attempts for the Gators, while the team had a .952 combined reception percentage with four errors on 79 attempts. Cecchi led the Gators with his 25.5 points, while Guyton collected 22.5 points in the action.
Sophomore middle hitter Scott Sanders (Los Angeles, CA/Taft) added 14 points on 11 kills with a .500 attack percentage and five digs with six block assists.
Rookie setter Ryan Jennings (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick) added 34 setting assists in the match with six digs, while junior opposite Austin Laverty (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) contributed 26 setting assists. Sophomore middle hitter Shane Wenz (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) added five kills, three digs with four block assists.
Senior libero Casey Fitzpatrick (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill) another of the nationally ranked Gators this season added 28 digs to lead Sage against Wells. He broke Sage's career digs mark in the match after surpassing Kyle Ray (693 digs, 2010-2013). He is also climbing the career setting assist mark as he started the day No. 2 on the list.
Wells took the first two sets, 25-23, 25-23 before the Gators took the third and fourth sets, 25-17, 25-22. In the final set, Wells picked up the win beating the Gators, 15-11.
Leading Wells was sophomore outside Caden O'Laughlin (Louisville, KY) with 14 kills, nine digs, 15.5 points with no reception errors in his 28 attempts. Senior outside Brandon Perdicho (Victor, NY/Victor Central) added nine kills with seven digs, an ace, and three block assists to go with his 35-0 effort on receptions. Sophomore Josh Undari (Manor Park, NY/Eastport-Southmanor) added nine kills with 27 setting assists, an ace, 10 digs and a solo block, while sophomore outside Kevin Batmunkh (Torrance, CA) racked up 17 digs with a 29-0 effort on receptions as the Express combined for a .990 performance on a 97-1 effort.
Match #2
Wells earned the 3-0 win, topping the Saints, 25-20, 25-16, 25-19.
Wells, Perdicho added 12 kills with a .333 attack percentage and 15.0 points to lead his team to the win. Senior Scott Litvin (Sayville, NY/Sayville) picked up 10 setting assists with four digs in the action. Undari added 18 setting assists with an ace and nine digs. Rookie Robert Patzer (Syracuse, NY/Circero-North Syracuse) added eight digs with an ace, while O'Louhlin picked up nine kills with six digs.
Emmanuel's junior outside hitter Erik English (Simi Valley, CA) added 10 kills with 10.0 points and nine digs for his team. Rookie Mike Kokoros (Braintree, MA/Braintree) picked up five kills with three aces and five digs for the Saints. Sophomore setter Seamus McDonough (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) collected 23 setting assists with an ace and three digs as well in the action.
Match #3
Sage collected the 3-0 win, beating the Saints, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22.
Leading the way for the Gators was Guyton with 17 kills, two aces, three digs, two block assists and 20.0 points. He had a .500 attack percentage in the contest as well. Guyton is Sage's career ace leader with 171 aces, and is now No. 3 in kills (939), and No. 2 in points as he has 1,192.0 points just on the heels of the all-time point leader, Dylan Krowicki (1,212.5 points).
Cecchi added seven kills with two aces, nine digs and 9.0 points, elevating his career resume as well. He is second on the all-time kills list with 955 kills, while standing second in aces (104) and third in points (1,118.5 points).
Fitzpatrick picked up five setting assists with a team-best nine digs and continues to add to his new active mark as Sages' career digs leader. He has 718 digs to go with his 1,373 career setting assists which is second at Sage. Laverty chipped in with 15 setting assists, two kills, and six digs for Sage as they combined for a .277 attack percentage.
Emmanuel's English added nine kills and 9.5 points with four digs and a block assist. Junior Kevin Orsley (San Jose, CA) added six kills with six digs and two block assists. McDonagh added 20 setting assists with four digs and two block assists as well for the Saints.