Nighthawks Fly Over Leopards in Five

The Newbury College men’s volleyball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology in five sets, 3-2, in Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) action Wednesday evening. Senior middle blocker Max Daley (Cranston, R.I./Cranston East) led the Nighthawks to victory registering a match-high 18 kills and five block assists.

The Nighthawks took the early lead in the first behind Daley and fellow senior, outside hitter James Beck’s (Havre De Grace, Md./Havre De Grace) with five kills apiece but the Leopards were not going to be denied. They clawed their way back to tie up the score at 24 and 25 before ultimately sealing set with a kill from freshman outside hitter Ross Burdett (Needham, Mass./Needham), to give the Leopards the 27-25 win.

Newbury evened up the match in game two. Junior outside hitter Danny Kim (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview JFK) notched a set-high five kills to lead Newbury to the 25-17 victory. Wentworth pulled ahead, taking the third set 25-19. The Leopards were game away from taking the match when Beck helped force a game five, registering five kills while senior setter Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint) added a set-high 10 assists en route to the 25-19 win in game four.

The fifth set was a barnburner as the score never exceeded two points until freshman outside hitter Chris Espinola (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) essentially sealed the game with a kill to give the Nighthawks the 13-9 lead. Newbury never looked back as they took set five, 15-10.

Burdett led three Leopards in double figures tallying a team-high 15 kills while senior outside hitter Derek Portugal (Barrington, R.I./Barrington) followed up with 12. Fellow senior middle hitter Lowell Jesmer (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) rounded out the trio in double figures notching 10.

With the win, Newbury improves to 18-9 on the season and 11-2 in NECVA while Wentworth falls to 17-7 and 8-4 in NECVA. The Nighthawks return to court tomorrow night when face New England Collegiate Conference foe Elms College at 7:00pm.

- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky