The Bard College men's volleyball team swept the Elms Blazers on the road on Friday night. Their winning streak of five matches is the longest for the program since the 2011 team earned five straight wins during their 20-win season that gave them the Skyline conference title.

Sidney Stein led the team with nine kills, hitting .313, along with two block assists and 12 total points. Current NEVC Athlete and Rookie of the Week, Ansel Waisler added eight kills, five digs, two block assists, and a team-high 13.5 points. Pearse Esposito contributed offensively with six kills, .313 hitting, and 16 assists. Lincoln Grisso was efficient with five kills on 10 attempts (.300) and three block assists.

Bard trailed by five points early in the first set, down 4-9. However, at 8-12, the Raptors went on a 6-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. The remainder of the set was even, with Bard holding on to the lead. Will Beane-Rosenberg finished off the set with a kill.

Two runs of 4+ points straight sealed the second set for the Raptors. The first was at 12-13, and the second was in clutch time, down 20-21. Bard took the final five points of the set, and each point energized the players down the stretch. Georgi Chikolov served it out and had four assists in the set.

In the third set, the Blazers were tied or had the lead until 15-15. Elms never pulled away, and the Raptors capitalized. At 16-17, Ansel Waisler and Pearse Esposito had back-to-back kills to start a 5-0 run that put Bard ahead for good.  

Bard will play in a tri-match at Wilkes tomorrow, playing the host at 11:00 a.m. and Mount Aloysius at 1 p.m.