Albany, NY— The Sage Colleges' men's volleyball team opened the 2019 season on Saturday hosting Purchase College and Northern Vermont University-Johnson in a tri-match. The Gators opened the day beating Purchase, 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-9) to give rookie head coach Rachel Martin her first career win. Sage added a 3-0 win over Northern Vermont University-Johnson (25-10, 25-6, 25-5) to move to 2-0 on the young season.
Against Purchase, Sage's junior middle hitter Scott Sanders (Los Angeles, CA/Taft) had 10 kills and a .600 attack percentage. He added three digs with a block assist in the action. Senior Austin Laverty (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) had five kills for Sage with a block assist and a dig. Rookie Deshawn Fleary (Newark, NJ/Immaculate Conception Montclair) had three kills with three setting assists in his collegiate debut.
Sophomore setter Ryan Jennings (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick Township) led Sage with his six aces and added 19 setting assists with four digs and a pair of kills. Rookie Ryan Alderdice (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) added four digs with three kills and added an ace for the Gators as they held Purchase to a .000 attack percentage in the match.
Sage added a convincing win over the Badgers as they beat NVU, 3-0 (25-10, 25-6, 25-5). Sanders had a blistering hot attack percentage as he had a .909 attack percentage and had 10 kills on total attacks. He added two aces as well for the Gators as they combined for a .543 attack percentage.
Senior co-captain Zackery Karl (West Monroe, NY/Central Square) added eight kills and a .800 attack percentage with five aces and nine digs. Laverty had six kills with three digs, while Jennings had 25 setting assists with two aces and two kills. Sophomore defensive specialist Dan Mackey (Westerlo, NY/Greenville Central) picked up five digs for the match, while newcomer Sherwin Bentick (Newark, NJ/Immaculate Conception Montclair) added two aces and two digs in his collegiate debut.
Sage is back in action on Wednesday, January 30 travelling to SUNY-Polytechnic for a 6 p.m. match.
