Bennington, VT--- The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball team travelled to Southern Vermont College on Thursday evening for a non-conference contest. Sage triumphed 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 25-21, 27-25) and now stands at 7-4 overall, while the Mountaineers drop to 4-5. The Gators halted SVC's four-match win streak and bring a two-match win streak into their next match.
Sage's duo of sophomores Dylan Krowicki (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) and Scott Fitzgerald (Hudson Falls, NY/Queensbury) each racked up 17 kills on the night. Fitzgerald added 19 digs with two aces and four block assists.
Junior middle hitter Spencer Hilland (Slingerlands, NY/Bethlehem Central) tallied 15 kills with 16 digs and three total blocks.
Sage's junior setter and co-captain Kyle Ray (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) racked up 55 setting assists in the contest and now has 1,070 career setting assists.
Freshman Corey Mills led SVC with 12 kills and a .429 hitting clip. Connor Murray and Joseph Dighton each had 10 kills in the loss. Senior libero Nick Haggerty had 16 digs and Anthony Barahona had 11. Anthony Ayala and Herson Canta each assisted on 24 kills for the Mountaineers.
In the first set SVC had a .500 hitting percentage with 17 kills, and one error on 32 attempts. Then it all changed in the second set when SVC hit .031 to a .343 hitting percentage by the Gators. In the pivotal third set, Sage jumped out to a 16-6 advantage that the Mountaineers weren't able to recover from. Gabriel Franco tried to bring SVC back with two service aces and four straight points. However, the closest Southern Vermont was able to get was 21-19, before Krowicki slammed four kills to end the set 25-21.
In the final set it looked as if SVC was going to push the match to a fifth and final set. The Mountaineers held its biggest advantage early at 12-6 after a Murray kill. Three SVC attack errors would change the momentum of the game and allow Sage to make the score 13-11. Once again SVC opened a seven point advantage at 22-15 with sights set on a fifth set. Then a service error, and an attack error by SVC, coupled with two kills from Krowicki made the score 22-19. Once again, Murray would bring the momentum to SVC with a kill at 23-19. After a kill from each side, the Mountaineers made four consecutive errors, to make the score 24-24. Another Murray kill gave SVC its final lead of the night at 25-24, but then a service error by SVC and kills from Fitzgerald and Hilland gave Sage its third set win of the evening and a match victory.
The Gators return to action on February 23 travelling to College of Mt. St. Vincent for a Skyline Conference at 7 p.m.
