Sage Men's Volleyball Takes two on Saturday, beating Purchase and John Jay

Sage Men's Volleyball Takes two on Saturday, beating Purchase and John Jay

Albany, NY-  The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball team hosted Purchase College and John Jay College on Saturday in a non-conference tri-match. The Gators took a 3-0 win over Purchase (25-11, 25-9, 25-14) and then topped John Jay College, 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22). Sage improves to 11-14 on the season.

Against Purchase, Sage was paced by the performance of senior outside hitter Bailey Cecchi (Agawam, MA/Agawam) as he posted nine kills with a .467 attack percentage. Cecchi added an ace with two digs and led the Gators with 10.5 points in the match.

Senior outside hitter Ryan Guyton (Lockport, NY/Lockport) collected five kills and boasts a .667 attack percentage to help the Gators to the win as the team combined to hit .492, while holding the Panthers to a -.105 attack percentage.

Sage's sophomore Tyler Schnaible (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) added four kills in the match and hit .800 with three block assists. Junior opposite Zackery Karl (West Monroe, NY/Central Square) also had three kills, while rookie Mike Basile (Feeding Hills, MA/Agawam) added four kills and a dig.

Senior libero Casey Fitzpatrick (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill) picked up five setting assists with two digs and a pair of aces. Junior Austin Laverty (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) posted 10 setting assists with two digs and a block assist.  

Sophomore Scott Sanders (Los Angelos, CA/Taft) added five kills and hit .667 in the match with two digs and two block assists for the Gators.

Against John Jay College, the gators needed four sets but picked up the win to improve to 11-14 as they beat the Bloodhounds, 3-1.

Guyton added 14.0 points on his 12 kills with an ace, four digs and two block assists. Guyton continues to add to his career records as Sage as he is first with his 1,096 kills, first with 193 aces, and also first with his 1,382.0 points. He is also fourth in career total blocks with 143.

Cecchi added 11 kills against JJC and had 14 digs with an ace and 12.5 points. He made just one reception error in 19 attempts for a .950 reception percentage. Like Guyton, Cecchi is also adding to his career resume as well. He is on Guyton's heels with his 1,089 kills (No. 2), No. 2 in aces with 112, while standing second in points (1,278.0) and is seventh with his 116 career total blocks.

Sophomore middle hitter Shane Wenz (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) added eight kills with his .538 attack percentage and picked up two digs with four total blocks. Sanders racked up nine kills with a .471 attack percentage, while collecting a block assist.

Fitzpatrick had 21 digs with three setting assists. The Sage career dig leader, he now has 863 digs with 51 career aces (No. 8), while adding 1,396 career setting assists which is second all-time.

Sophomore Jarod Martel (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) racked up seven kills with five digs and an ace. Junior Austin Laverty (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) posted 21 setting assists with seven digs.   

Sage will be back in action on April 7 hosting Lehman College and New Jersey City University in a tri-match. Prior to the final match of the day, Sage will honor their 2018 seniors. The Gators will face Lehman at 11 a.m. and NJCU at 3 p.m.