MEN'S VOLLEYBALL SPLITS SEASON-OPENING TRI-MATCH AT NO. 11 MIT
CAMBRIDGE, MA, Jan. 20, 2007 - Elms College junior outside hitter Byron Bledsoe (Lake Forest, CA) and senior middle blocker Brian Cunniff (Pittsfield, MA) combined for 37 kills to help lead the Blazers to a split of Saturday's men's volleyball tri-match at MIT's Rockwell Cage.
No. 11 MIT defeated Elms College 3-0 (30-21, 30-16, 30-18) and Lesley University 3-0 (30-24, 30-11, 30-16). The Blazers earned their split with a 3-0 (30-9, 30-20, 30-11) decision over Lesley in the second match of the day.
Elms College, which was playing its season-opener, moved to 1-1 overall, 1-0 NECVA New England.
Against the Blazers, junior outside hitter Praveen Pamidimukkala (Edison, NJ) paced MIT (3-0, 1-0 NECVA New England) with 16 kills on 21 attempts with one error for a .714 hitting percentage to go along with eight digs and four blocks. As a team, the Engineers tallied a .455 hitting percentage and 14 blocks.
Bledsoe with nine kills, nine digs, and two aces and Cunniff registered seven kills and one block. Freshman setter Ivan Andujar (Carolina, Puerto Rico) collected 24 assists, five digs and one ace.
In its win over Lesley (0-2, 0-1 NECVA New England), Cunniff posted 13 kills and Bledsoe tallied eight kills, six digs, two aces, and a block. Sophomore outside hitter Tim Gordon (Methuen, MA) notched five aces, Andujar contributed 35 assists and senior outside hitter Matt Zybert (Shrewsbury, MA) contributed nine kills in the winning effort.
Elms College plays its home opener when it hosts Endicott
College on Tuesday, January 24. Match time is 7:00 p.m. at the
Maguire Center.