Men’s Volleyball Comeback Falls Short in Deciding Set

BOSTON - After dropping the first two sets, Regis College rallied back by taking the next two sets to send the match to the distance, but Emerson College was able to prevail in the fifth set for a 3-2 victory (25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 22-25, 15-12) Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's volleyball match.

Andrew Matzouranis (North Andover, Mass.) led the Pride with 18 kills on a .333 hitting percentage, while Joseph Perez (Miami, Fla.) finished with 16 kills. Tyrell Bucasas (Waialua, Hawaii) notched a double-double with 34 assists and 11 digs, John Nangle (Lowell, Mass.) led the team at the net with four block assists, and Malakai DeHuelbes (Tucson, Ariz.) paced the backline with 13 digs.

Down two sets to zero, Regis took advantage of Emerson errors midway through the third set to pull ahead, 11-8. After the Lions closed to within one point, Regis scored three straight points, including kills by Eddie Djatcha (Lowell, Mass.) and Jalen Watt (South Hadley, Mass.), to extend its lead to 16-12. Led by Bayden Slavik with two kills and a block assist, Emerson tied the set at 18-18, but the Pride would score six of the next seven points and eventually clinch the third set on a kill by Matzouranis.

The Pride held the lead early in the fourth set, but the Lions would tie the set on seven different occasions before pulling ahead 19-18. Matzouranis earned a kill and then joined with Nangle for a block to allow Regis to retake the lead at 20-19. After a Regis service error tied the set at 22-22, the Pride rattled off three straight points on kills by Matzouranis, Watt, and Perez to close out the fourth set and force the deciding fifth set.

The teams exchanged the first 14 points of the final set before Theo Hackett collected a kill and joined Ramsis de los Santos for a block to pull the Lions ahead, 9-7. Matzouranis and Nangle teamed up on a block to tie the set at 9-9, followed by a kill by Orlando Plagata (Los Angeles, Calif.) and a Lion attack error to create two more ties. Emerson took the lead for good on a kill by Slavik and eventually clinched the set and the match thanks to three Regis errors.

Slavik nearly earned a triple-double with 15 kills, 22 assists, and nine digs along with four block assists, while Hackett also finished with 15 kills and Bryson Beck collected 22 assists of his own. At the net, Liam Higgins led the Lions with five total blocks, and Ben Dorsey earned 12 defensive digs to pace the Emerson backline.

After Regis won four of the first five points of the match, Emerson took control of the opening set with an 11-3 scoring run. The Pride battled back and pulled ahead by one point three times, twice off Matzouranis kills, but the Lions put together a 7-2 scoring run to close out the first set, led by three kills from Chase Fagen.

Emerson (4-9, 2-6 GNAC) opened the second set by scoring eight of the first nine points, led by Higgins and Hackett with two kills apiece. The Pride closed to within one point at 15-14 on a kill by Perez, but a kill by Hackett followed by consecutive kills from Slavik allowed the Lions to extend their lead back to four points at 18-14. Emerson would clinch the second set on a block by Higgins and Slavik as well as a Pride error.

Regis College (9-15, 4-6 GNAC) hosts Elms College in its final home match of the regular season Tuesday, March 26, starting at 7 p.m. Before the match, Perez, Plagata, and Alessandro DiPaola (Newington, Conn.) will be honored in a Senior Night presentation.