Men’s Volleyball Downed by Lions, 3-0

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emerson Lions, earning a 25-17, 25-16 and 25-10 victory against Anna Maria College in GNAC play.  Dimitri Gorenc (nine kills, 12 points), Jackson Wiley (10 kills, 15 points), and Brendan McGonigle (28 assists, 9.5 points) led the Lions to an important in-conference win.  Connor Burton added seven kills and five digs for EC.

 The Lions improve the 6-5 overall and 1-1 in-conference play, while Anna Maria falls to 1-4 and 0-2 against GNAC opponents.

For the AMCATS, Dylan Copeland (six kills) and Jonathan Gallardo (six kills) were the leaders for Anna Maria. Michael Gaudelli dished out 17 assists while Copeland notched 7 digs on defense.

EC dominated in the first set, capitalizing on Anna Maria errors and in a team effort, EC posted a .308 kill percentage.  The Lions won the majority of the battles in the middle of the net, with McGonigle scoring two key kills late in the set.  EC would finish the set with a decisive 25-17 advantage.

 The second set, Gorenc slammed a kill into the back corner for EC's first point, and added another kill in the same spot to give the Lions an early 3-2 advantage.  Anna Maria tied the score 5-5 on a Ben Hillman service error before taking the lead on the next serve.  EC fell behind 11-14 midway through the set before Wiley took control offensively to bring the score to a 14-14 tie.  Expert serves by McGonigle allowed EC to pull ahead 20-15.  The Lions put the set away 25-16.

 In the third, Burton hit a hard kill to give EC a 4-3 advantage.  The Lions extended the lead to five behind two Wiley service aces and kills from Devin McIntyre and Connor Burton. The one-sided set ended 25-10 in EC's favor.

 For the AMCATS, Dylan Copeland (six kills) and Jonathan Gallardo (six kills) were the leaders for Anna Maria.

Anna Maria heads to Lasell College on Saturday afternoon for a tri-match with the Lasers at 11:00 a.m. and Regis College starting at 1:00 p.m.