ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Bard College men's volleyball team swept the UMSV Dolphins and defeated the John Jay Bloodhounds in four sets at Stevenson Athletic Center on Saturday. 

Against UMSV, Bard had two 4-0 runs at 1-2 and 9-7 to gain a six point lead. Ansel Waisler and Pearse Esposito each had two kills in these runs, with Georgi Chikolov assisting on four Raptor kills. However, UMSV took six points right back to tie it at 13-13. The Raptors won seven of the next ten points during the crucial stretch that ensued, gaining a 20-16 advantage. Bard needed just one set point to find Waisler for a kill to give the Raptors their seventh straight-set victory in the all-time matchup.

A key moment in the second was Bard's 7-0 run while the scoreline was tied at nine. The Dolphins called timeout and settled back in, winning five straight points and eight of the next nine to get them back into contention at 17-17. The second set had 13 ties, and the final one was at 22-22, as the Raptors won the final three points. 

With the Raptors down 8-7 in the third set, Sidney Stein enforced his will with back-to-back kills. That sparked a 7-1 run that put Bard ahead for good. The Dolphins had runs of three straight points two separate times, but never got closer than two for the remainder of the set. At 20-17, Stein found two more kills, and Gideon Jacob served out the match with four straight points, including an ace. 

Stein and Waisler led the Raptors in kills, both reaching double-digits. Waisler hit 10 in the victory. Stein had 11 kills to lead the team. Georgi Chikolov had a game-high 18 assists, pairing with Pearse Esposito, who had 15 assists. Lincoln Grisso led all Raptors in hitting at .357. 
 
In the first set against John Jay, the Bloodhounds had the lead for the majority of the play. On a pivotal point at 19-19, Gideon Jacob made a sliding dig feet first to save a point that was otherwise going the other way. Then, Grisso made his name heard with the Raptors' final kill of the set at 23-22. The Bloodhounds hit an attack error to give the set to Bard by a three-point margin.

The second set featured 19 lead changes and 7 ties, with the largest lead being just four by John Jay at 10-6. The Raptors took the lead 11-10 after a five-point run, but that was the only run over three points for Bard. The two teams raised their level as the set grew older, hitting great attacks followed by even better digs on the way to a 27-25 score in favor of the Bloodhounds.

The Raptors won the third set off of well-rounded play, whether it be from the net, the service line, or on attack. They out-aced the Bloodhounds, 4-1, out-killed them 13-6, and had a 2-0 block advantage. At 20-16, the Raptors took the next five points and responded after dropping their first set of the day. Stein led all players with four kills in the fourth set, with two of them coming in a 5-0 run putting Bard up 24-13. John Jay had four straight points, but the deficit was too big to overcome.

The kills leader in the match was Stein, who had a career-high 19, six more than he had in the previous 13 matches. Stein now has eight double-digit kill matches on the season – seven of which have come in the last eight matches. Waisler extended his double-digit kill streak to six matches, hitting 12 in the victory. He added a career-high six aces. Pearse Esposito had a career-high 38 assists, 15 more than his previous high of 23 against Manhattanville. Lincoln Grisso led all Raptors in digs with 15. Waisler, Quinn Lewis, and Esposito each had 10. Will Beane-Rosenberg had six total blocks, a career-high.

The Raptors are looking to extend their four-match winning streak when they travel to Elms on Friday at 6 p.m.