Albany, NY– The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball hosted the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University and the Dolphins of the College of Mt. St. Vincent in a Skyline Conference tri-match on Saturday. NJCU opened the day with a 3-1 win over Sage (27-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21), marking the program's 400th victory. NJCU won the contest with CMSV, 3-0 as well (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) and now stand at 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the Skyline Conference. CMSV took the final match of the day, 3-0 over Sage (25-23, 25-14, 25-13) to stand at 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the league. Sage drops to 2-7 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Against NJCU, rookie outside hitter, Bailey Cecchi (Agawam, MA/Agawam) racked up 11 kills with five digs and four setting assists. Freshman setter Tyler Bastos (Ludlow, MA/Ludlow) finished with 20 setting assists, while adding eight digs and two total blocks and seven kills. Freshman middle hitter Ryan Guyton (Lockport, NY/Lockport) added two seven kills with eight digs and four total blocks. Sophomore co-captain Chris MacArthur (Hillsdale, NY/Taconic Hills) racked up a pair of aces and added three digs with three kills for the Gators.
Against CMSV, Cecchi posted 10 kills with seven digs. He also was a perfect 17-0 on reception attempts with no errors. Rookie Casey Fitzpatrick (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill) racked up five digs with two aces and three digs with just one reception error in 13 attempts. Guyton added seven digs with two aces and two kills for the Gators, while senior co-captain Thaddeus Sipe (Loudonville, NY/Hawthorne Valley) added two digs with a kill and two setting assists. Bastos added 19 setting assists in the action with four digs and a solo block.
On the season, Cecchi leads the team with his 86 kills and has 51 digs with 14 total blocks. He has a team-best 10 solo blocks. Fitzpatrick has 77 digs with 10 aces and 37 kills, while Guyton leads the Gators with his 11 aces and checks in with 58 digs and 43 kills.
Sage returns to action on February 22 hosting Yeshiva University and Mt. Ida in a tri-match. Sage will play at 11 a.m. and again at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
