Men’s Volleyball Drops GNAC Contest to Lasell

WESTON, Mass. - Regis College was unable to slow down the offensive production of Lasell University as the Lasers hit .378 as a team on their way to a 3-0 victory (25-9, 25-20, 25-17) Tuesday night in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's volleyball match at Higgins Court.

Jalen Watt (South Hadley, Mass.) and Joseph Perez (Miami, Fla.) finished with five kills and one service ace apiece, with Watt not committing an attack error as he posted a .385 hitting percentage. Grant Wojcik (Bellingham, Mass.) finished with 11 assists and four digs, and Orlando Plagata (Los Angeles, Calif.) paced the Pride backline with eight defensive digs.

Lasell raced out to a 12-2 lead in the first set thanks to eight unanswered points, led by Theo Zaharewicz with three consecutive kills. Later in the set, Zaharewicz started a quick 5-0 Laser run with a kill and a service ace, and then Lasell closed out the opening set on a service ace by Brenden Joyce.

Joyce and Jan Baranowski earned two kills apiece at the start of the second set to give the Lasers a 5-2 advantage, and then they would extend that lead to 19-11 thanks to an 8-3 scoring run, capped by a kill from Zaharewicz and a service ace from Cody Bonilla.

Down 22-14 after a block by Joyce and Cole Esterline, the Pride battled back with a 6-1 scoring run, punctuated by a block from Andrew Matzouranis (North Andover, Mass.) and John Nangle (Lowell, Mass.), but the Lasers clinched the second set on a kill by Zaharewicz and a block from Bonilla and Dexter Thomas.

Zaharewicz led the Lasers to a 7-2 lead in the third set with two kills and two block assists, but the Pride would eventually close to within three points at 11-8 on a kill by Eddie Djatcha (Lowell, Mass.). Lasell responded with a 7-1 scoring run, capped by consecutive service aces by Baranowski, to extend its lead to 18-9. Down 24-14 after a kill by Bonilla, Regis held off the Lasers with three straight points, including a kill by Matzouranis, but the visitors finally closed out the set and the match on a kill by Joyce.

Lasell was led by Zaharewicz with 12 kills, two service aces, and eight digs, while Joyce finished with nine kills and six digs and Baranowski contributed eight kills on a .667 hitting percentage along with two service aces and two block assists. Jesus Garcia dished out 23 assists, and libero Peyton Walter contributed six digs to the winning effort.

Regis (9-13, 4-4 GNAC) travels to Nashua, N.H., to face Rivier University Thursday, March 21, starting at 7 p.m. Lasell (9-10, 4-1 GNAC) heads into Boston for a conference matchup with Emerson College Thursday night beginning at 6 p.m.