Nighthawks Capture ECAC DIII North Men’s Volleyball title

Beverly, Mass. – Playing as the #2 seed in the ECAC Division III North Men’s Volleyball Tournament, the Newbury College Nighthawks defeated host institution and #1 seed Endicott College 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-20-25-23) to win their third ECAC Tournament championship in the past five years. 
 
Newbury (25-13) saw their junior outside hitter Danny Kim (Plainview, N.Y.) earn the Most Outstanding Player award after posting a match-high 19 kills and a .412 hit percentage with just five hitting errors.  Kim’s effort led a Nighthawks offense that had a .265 team hit percentage and three players with double-digit kills. 
 
Also recording at least 10 kills for Newbury were freshman Danny Tiner (Salem, N.H.) and senior James Beck (Havre De Grace, Md.) who tallied 14 and 12 kills, respectively. 
 
The team’s setter, senior Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out 48 assists, struck five kills, had 12 digs and assisted on three blocks in the win.
 
Endicott’s offensive attack was led with 10 kills on 20 attempts with just two errors by freshman middle blocker Travis Netherton (Waukegan, Ill.).  Netherton did his part in the blocking game as well, stopping a total of four attacks including one solo block. 
 
A pair of Gulls outside hitters, senior Zeke Kubisch (Bethlehem, N.Y.) and junior Jeremy Siden (Natick, Mass.) gave strong efforts in the match with nine and eight kills each. 
 
Defensively for the Blue and Green, junior libero Andrew Slocum (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) led all players with 14 digs and at the net sophomore Matt Devendorf (Glastonbury, Conn.) tied teammate Joshua Bruno (Andover, Mass.) and Newbury’s Danny Kim for a match-high six blocks. 
 
Endicott played from behind for much of the four sets, but was able to rally for a second set 25-22 win after dropping the first one.  In the third set, with the score tied 8-8, the Nighthawks scored seven of the next 10 points to take a 15-11 lead and forced the Gulls into a timeout.  Newbury maintained a similar advantage for the remainder of the set to go up 2-1.  In the final set, Endicott looked to force a deciding fifth set but the Nighthawks won the final point up 24-23 to win the ECAC DIII North Men’s Volleyball Tournament. 
 
The Nighthawks got in the championship after defeating the #3 seed Lasell College Lasers in straight sets.  Endicott had won 3-0 over the #4 seed Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards. 

- Story provided by: Rob Palardy, Sports Information Director - Endicott College

- Photo by: Samantha Yanofsky