Men’s Volleyball: AMCATS Drop Heartbreaker to Mustangs, 3-2

NEWTON, Mass. – Staring down dire circumstances all night, the Mount Ida College men's volleyball team dug in and battled back to claim a 3-2, five set come-from-behind victory over Anna Maria College, earning their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) win of the season.

Mount Ida (7-9, 1-2 GNAC) nearly came back to win the first set of the match, falling 26-24, and then found themselves in a 2-0 hole after a 25-18 AMCATS victory in game two. The Mustangs gutted out wins of 25-23 and 25-22 to force the decisive fifth game and then came back from a 12-9 deficit by scoring five straight points and sealing the match with a 15-13 win.

Senior Nick Schibi (Torrington, Conn.) led the Mustangs with 15 kills, one of four players on each team with double-digit kill numbers. His classmates Nick Melillo (North Haven, Conn.) and Kenny Jean (Dorchester, Mass.) added 13 kills apiece, with Melillo notching the final point of the deciding set.

The AMCATS (1-7, 0-4 GNAC), in their first year as a varsity program, got 17 kills from freshman Dylan Copeland (Haverhill, Mass.) and a game-high 49 assists from first year setter Michael Gaudelli (Hicksville, N.Y.).

Freshman Andrew Shaw (Anaheim, Calif.) served one of the Mustang's five service aces in the match to get the winning run started in the final game. After two attack errors by Copeland, one on a block by Dennis Miranda (Hialeah, Fla.) and Steve Morisseau (Norwood, Mass.), Miranda and Melillo added the final points of the gutsy win with kills for the Mustangs.

Anna Maria scored the first five points of the match and led for the entire first game until they reached set point at 24-19. Led by the serving and hitting of Brady Rodriguez (Longwood, Fla.), Mount Ida fought back to tie the game at 24 with five straight points, but two attacking errors by the Mustangs gave the lead and the game back to Anna Maria.

A 5-0 run by the AMCATS, served by Gaudelli, turned a 9-9 second game into a 14-9 lead for Anna Maria. They continued to build on their advantage, using three straight kills from Copeland to grab a 22-13 edge and put the game out of reach.

The visitors threatened to close out the match in the third set, holding a 16-13 lead, but Mount Ida scored nine of the next fourteen points, including multiple kills from Schibi, Jean and Melillo. Clinging to a 22-21 lead, the Mustangs got kills from Rodriguez, who had ten in the game to go with 43 assists, and Corey Brindamour (Barrington, R.I.) and a dig and kill from Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.), who led the Mustangs with 14 digs.

It was Mount Ida who got themselves in front in the fourth set, leading 14-10, only to see Copeland serve the Amcats to seven straight points to grab a 17-16 lead. Mount Ida tied the game again on a kill by Melillo, though Anna Maria responded with kills by Jonathan Gallardo (Marlborough, Mass.), who had ten in the game and Michael Goncalves (Milford, Mass.).

Freshman Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.), who had 14 kills for the AMCATS, tied the game at 20 and an error by the Mustangs put the visitors ahead by a point, but two attack errors and kills from Jean and Wessel gave the Mustangs a 24-21 lead, which they hammered down on a kill by Schibi to force the sudden death set.

Miranda and Rodriguez each had ten digs for Mount Ida, with Rodriguez serving two aces and hitting .333 for the game. Jean was in on one solo block and four block assists, as was Morisseau.

Copeland had 19 digs for the visitors, while Griffenkranz was in on 3 block assists to go with 17 digs of his own, and libero Jonathan Alicea (Feeding Hills, Mass.) dug out 15 balls in the loss.

The Mustangs have an extended Spring Break after today's game, and will return to action on March 16^th when they travel to New Haven, Conn. for a tri-match against Emerson and Albertus Magnus.

Anna Maria will take a pause as well and will host Newbury in a non-conference game on March 17^th.

Release courtesy Mount Ida College Sports Information Department