Men's Volleyball Sweeps Mount Ida, Falls To No. 14 Wentworth in GNAC Openers

NEWTON, Mass. – The Regis (Mass.) men's volleyball team opened Great Northeast Athletic Conference play, sweeping host Mount Ida (25-18, 25-21, 25-17) but falling to No. 14 Wentworth (25-11, 25-16, 25-15) in trimatch action Saturday at the Athletic Center.

Drew Beimel (Redondo Beach, Calif.) led the Pride (4-6, 1-1 GNAC) against Mount Ida with a match-high 15 kills at a .429 attack percentage while adding seven assists. Chris Fitta (Warwick, R.I.) posted a team-high eight digs with Brett Krahl (Santa Clarita, Calif.) adding 10 kills.

Brett Southworth led the Mustangs (8-9, 0-3 GNAC) with 11 kills, four digs and five aces and Tyler Dorfman added a team-high five digs. Andre Foster chipped in with four kills and three digs for Mount Ida, which received 22 set assists and three digs from Kevin Keohane, two kills and a pair of blocks from Tyler Shinkle as well as a combined nine digs from Dorfman and Nate Gyampo.

The first set saw the Pride trail early but run off six straight points midway through the set and coast to the win. Krahl's back-to-back aces helped the Pride to a 20-11 lead. Set two saw Mount Ida build a 17-13 lead on three straight Southworth service aces, but a 12-4 run to finish the frame put the Pride up 2-0. A pair of kills down the stretch from Jeff Ramos (Pawtucket, R.I.) helped seal the win and eventually the sweep.

Regis posed little threat to Wentworth in the back end of the trimatch, Beimel (5 kills) again led the Pride offense, one that saw just four players post kills. Fitta posted a team-high seven digs with Beimel adding three more.

Colin Ritter (Feeding Hills, Mass.) led a balanced Leopard attack with 15 assists, eight kills and five digs, while Ryan Love (Gaithersburg, Md.) added seven kills, five digs and three service aces. Ollie Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) notched six kills for the Leopards, who received a combined nine kills and nine block assists from the tandem of Skarzynski and fellow sophomore Ryan Engel (Floral Park, N.Y.).

After being completely outplayed in the opening frame, the Pride battled for a bit in set two. Kills from Ramos and Inelson Alves (Brockton, Mass.) cut the Leopard lead to 10-7. Beimel's service kept the deficit at three points later in the set but a 7-2 Wentworth run ended matters and set the stage for the eventual sweep. 

Regis plays its conference home opener on Tuesday, Feb. 27 versus Lasell. First serve at Higgins Court is set for 7:00 p.m.

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