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Bard College Athletics

Pearse Esposito
Reina Hoffman, sports information work study
1
Bard BRD 8-8,0-0 NEVC
3
Winner Wilkes Wilkes 6-12,0-2 CVC
Bard BRD
8-8,0-0 NEVC
1
Final
3
Wilkes Wilkes
6-12,0-2 CVC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Bard BRD 25 25 18 20 (1)
Wilkes Wilkes 27 19 25 25 (3)
3
Winner Mount Aloysius MAC 3-8,0-1 AMCC
1
Bard BRD 8-9,0-0 NEVC
Winner
Mount Aloysius MAC
3-8,0-1 AMCC
3
Final
1
Bard BRD
8-9,0-0 NEVC
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Mount Aloysius MAC 25 21 25 25 (3)
Bard BRD 21 25 22 21 (1)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | Noah Poll, assistant sports information director

RECAP: Men’s Volleyball Takes on Wilkes and Mount Aloysius in Pennsylvania

Waisler leads the team with 40 kills on the day

The Bard College men's volleyball team traveled to Wilkes-Barre to take on the home Colonels and the Mount Aloysius Mounties on Saturday.

In match number one versus Wilkes, Sidney Stein led the Raptors with 19 kills, hitting .341, adding a career-high 16 digs. Ansel Waisler was the other main source of offense, as he had 14 kills on 42 total attacks to go with two service aces. Pearse Esposito ran the offense, with 34 of Bard's 47 assists. It is the second time in three matches that Esposito has reached 30+ assists. He added six kills and eight digs. Lincoln Grisso had seven kills and nine digs in the match.

The first set against Wilkes swung back and forth, as at 7-6 Wilkes, the Colonels won three straight points, followed by three straight by Bard. Wilkes pulled away with a 5-0 run to make it 20-13, but the Raptors responded, going on a 9-2 run to tie it up at 22-22. Bard had set point at 25-24, but the Colonels took the next three points and the set. Despite the setback, the Raptors outhit the Colonels, 15-14 on kills, and hit .250 to the Colonels' .175.

The Raptors cut their errors in half in the second set, from six to three. The Colonels got off to a quick start and had as large as a four-point lead at 17-13. However, the Raptors buckled down and won 12 of the next 14 points, getting multiple kills from Waisler and Stein during the run that gave them the set victory. As a team, Bard had 12 kills in the set, hit .310, and added three blocks. After tying the match at one set apiece, the Raptors got off to a hot start in the third set. An early onslaught of attacks by Waisler gave him three kills and put Bard up 12-9. Wilkes had a 10-2 run of their own, and the Raptors couldn't claw back in the set. 

Bard had a 7-5 lead in the fourth set off of three consecutive points that ended in kills. The Raptors' flame was quickly snuffed, as Wilkes grabbed 11 of the next 14 points. The fire started to burn again at 10-16, as the Raptors went on a 6-1 run to get within a point. Stein would have a strong kill at 19-21 to get back to a one-point deficit once again, but Wilkes closed out the match with four straight points.

In the match with Mount Aloysius, Waisler had career-highs on offense and defense, with 26 kills and 14 digs. He hit .400 for the match, adding two blocks. Stein had 11 kills, a career-high five assists, eight digs, and two aces. Esposito had a career-high five blocks. He added five kills on .400 hitting, and went for 32 assists and 11 digs. Grisso had his fifth match of the season with 4+ blocks. Quinn Lewis had eight digs in the match and had 13 total in the tri-match.

The first set was decided by just four points. Bard had a lead at 8-7, but the Mounties won the next six points to take the lead. At 14-21, the Raptors won seven of the next 10 points, but Mount Aloysius held off the comeback to win the set. The Raptors won the first six points of the second set, but the Mounties had a 6-0 run of their own in response. At 13-16, Bard took four straight points and six of the next eight to gain a 19-18 lead. With the score knotted at 20, Stein came up clutch, as he hit a kill and two aces as part of a 5-1 run to close the set out. Bard hit 14 kills in the second set, edging out the Mounties in that category, as they hit 12.

Waisler hit nine kills in the third set, as the Raptors continued to play well once the rally got started. However, after an 11-4 start by Mount Aloysius, the Raptors could not complete the comeback. Bard saved three set points at 19-24, but on the fourth, Evan Schmidt of the Mounties swung and connected on a kill.

Bard fell just short of winning the fourth set, as they held leads at 9-6 early on, 15-13 midway through the set, and 19-17 towards the end of the frame. However, the run that sealed it was the Mounties' 8-2 run to finish the match. The Raptors had just three errors in the set, compared to Mount Aloysius' six. 

Bard will continue its out-of-state trip as it goes to Boston to take on Emerson at 6 p.m. on Friday.
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