Pride Men’s Volleyball Loses Close Match to ENC

WESTON, Mass. - Regis College rebounded from losing the first two sets to win the third set, but Eastern Nazarene College struck back in the fourth set to defeat the Pride, 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 16-25, 25-17), Thursday night in a non-conference men's collegiate volleyball match at Higgins Court.

Joseph Perez (Miami, Fla.) once again led the Pride offensively with 16 kills, plus he collected 10 digs for his first double-double of the season. Tyrell Bucasas (Waialua, Hawaii) also notched a double-double with 29 assists and 12 digs, and Orlando Plagata (Los Angeles, Calif.) finished with seven kills and five total blocks. Defensively, Marcello Cappuccio (Scotch Plains, N.J.) paced the Pride with 15 digs, and Alessandro DiPaola (Newington, Conn.) collected 12 digs for the second time in three nights.

Early in the first set, consecutive kills and a solo block from Plagata gave the Pride an 8-5 lead, but the Lions put together a 10-3 scoring run, led by three kills from Alejandro Garcia Fernandez to open a 15-11 advantage. Regis closed to within two points on several occasions, including at 22-20 after a kill by Perez, but Eastern Nazarene scored the final three points of the opening set on three Regis errors.

The Lions scored five straight points early in the second set, including two kills by Nathan Jacques, but the Pride responded with four unanswered points, featuring a triple block by Plagata, Robert Burch (Coxsackie, N.Y.), and Francesco Buanne (Caserta, Italy). Eastern Nazarene held off Regis' rally, Garcia Fernandez earned consecutive service aces late in the set, and the Lions finally closed out the second set on a kill by Ian Pacheco and a Regis attack error.

After a block by Garcia Fernandez and Matthew Mucha brought the Lions within one point early in the third set, Regis rattled off a 9-1 scoring run, led by three kills from Buanne. The two teams basically traded points throughout the remainder of the set until the Pride scored three straight points to clinch the third set on a kill by Bucasas, a block from Perez and John Nangle (Lowell, Mass.), and a kill by Nangle.

The Lions raced out to a 7-1 lead to open the fourth set, and then Garcia Fernandez picked up a kill and back-to-back service aces to give Eastern Nazarene a 17-10 advantage. Regis could not put together a scoring run the rest of the way, making two attack errors to clinch the fourth set and the match for the visiting team.

Garcia Fernandez finished with 21 kills, five service aces, and seven digs, while Pacheco notched a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Jacques ran the offense, finishing with 35 assists, five kills, and eight digs, and Fernando Paredes led the Lion backline with 13 defensive digs.

The Pride held their own defensively, tying the Lions with 56 digs and also collecting 11.5 team blocks at the net. However, Eastern Nazarene prevailed in the offensive categories with more kills (47-37) and service aces (8-2).

Regis College (7-12) faces Elms College and Emmanuel College in a GNAC tri-match in Chicopee, Mass., Saturday, March 25, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern Nazarene (12-10) travels to take on Endicott next Wednesday, March 29, beginning at 6 p.m.