ALBANY, NY – Sage men's volleyball opened up their Skyline Conference schedule on Tuesday night, but dropped the match to newcomer St. Joseph's – Long Island 3-0 (25-7, 25-15, 25-14).
After dropping the first set 25-7 to the Golden Eagles, Sage (10-11, 0-1 Skyline) started the second set on kills by Ryan Guyton (Lockport, NY/Lockport) and Chris MacArthur (Ancram, NY/Taconic Hills) to take a 2-1 lead. St. Joseph's (14-7, 3-0 Skyline) responded with a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. MacArthur then started a 4-2 run with a solo block to cut the lead to 8-6. St. Joseph's Paul Curaro lead the Eagles on a 6-0 to take a 14-6 lead. A Guyton kill broke up the run followed by a block by Guyton and Zackery Karl (West Monroe, NY/Central Square) to bring the Gators within 14-8.
After swapping points over multiple serves, Sage went on a 2-0 run led by Shane Wenz (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) and Bailey Cecchi (Agawam, MA/Agawam) to bring the score to 19-13 in favor of the Eagles. However, it wasn't enough and St. Joseph's went on to take the set 25-15.
In the third set, the Golden Eagles continued their dominance and came out with a quick 20-7 lead. Sage posted a 7-3 run led by Guyton, Cecchi, Wenz and Casey Fitzpatrick (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill) to cut the lead down to 23-14. However, a kill from Matt Cole and a Curaro ace gave the Eagles the set 25-14.
Sage was led on offense by Guyton with 10 points on eight kills, two blocks and an ace. Fitzpatrick led the Gators with 18 assists while Wenz had three blocks on defense.
On the other side of the net, Curaro had a match-high 16.5 points on eight aces, seven kills and two blocks. The freshman's aces are a national best in three-set matches. Will Flohr chipped in 11.5 points on eight kills, three aces and one block. Tyler Jones led the way with 26 assists while adding five digs. Michael Barfield also added five digs while Cole had three blocks.
With is play tonight, Guyton is now 33 points away from hitting the 1,000th career milestone. Only two other Gators have reached this milestone in the program's eight-year history. Spencer Hilland (2011-13) had 1,084.5 while Dylan Krowicki had 1,212.5 points.
Sage returns to play on Sun., Mar. 26 as the Gators host Yeshiva and St. Joseph's – Brooklyn in a Skyline tri-match. Sage takes on the Macabees at 11 a.m. followed by the Bears at 3 p.m.
