Sage men's volleyball pushes Springfield, but falls twice on Saturday

Sage men's volleyball pushes Springfield, but falls twice on Saturday

Springfield, MA–Sage's men's volleyball team travelled to Massachusetts to take on the No. 2 ranked Pride of Springfield College and Elmira College in a tri-match on Saturday. Against Springfield, Sage took a set from the Pride, but fell, 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 20-25, 25-21) in the first match. Against Elmira, Sage fell 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-16).

Leading the Gators against Springfield College was senior Shane Wenz (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) as he led the team with 17.5 points and 15 kills. He collected a .321 attack percentage with an ace, seven digs and two total blocks. Senior Scott Sanders (Los Angeles, CA/Taft) finished with six kills and 7.0 points, while senior captain Jarod Martel (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) picked up eight kills with four digs and 8.0 points. Junior setter Ryan Jennings (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick Township) added 41 setting assists with two digs, a block assists and a kill.

Against Elmira, Martel and Wenz both had 10.0 points. Martel added nine kills with a .428 attack percentage to go with his five digs and a solo block. Wenz added four digs with two block assists. Jennings added 20 setting assists with two digs and a block assist. Sanders had 9.0 points in the match while hitting .636 with an ace, four digs and two block assists.  

Sophomore Deshawn Fleary (Newark, NJ/Immaculate Conception Montclair) added four digs for the Gators, as did junior defensive specialist Dan Mackey (Westerlo, NY/Greenville Central). Junior Austin Muntz (Hannacroix, NY/Greenville) had two block assists with a kill.

After Saturday's matches, a number of Sage team members are climbing the program's record book. After Saturday's contests, Wenz is now sixth in career kills with 473, while also standing third in solo blocks (48), third in block assists (136) and third in total blocks (184) and also sixth in points (634.0). Jennings ranks third with his 1,286 career setting assists.

Sage will travel to Elms College on Wednesday, January 29 for a 7 p.m. match.