NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's volleyball team fell to the Lions of Emerson College on Tuesday evening at Mount Ida Athletic Center to Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) by final scores of (17-25, 19-25, 18-25).

With the GNAC setback, Mount Ida drops to 6-14 (1-5 GNAC) while Emerson improves to 7-9 (3-3 GNAC).

The Lions were led by Jackson Wiley (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Mark Piorkowski (Montclair, N.J.) who each totaled nine and eight kills respectively. Brendan McGonigle (Los Angeles, Calif.) tallied 24 assists and five kills of his own. Win Kittivatcharapong (Bangkok, Thailand) and Ben Hillman (South Pasadena, Calif.) each collected three kills in the game.

Mount Ida was led offensively by Peter Griffenkranz (Deer Park, N.Y.) who had a game high nine kills along with senior James Ames (West Hartford, Conn.) who also matched Griffenkranz with nine kills of his own. Jimmy Wessel (DeKalb, Ill.) tallied a game high 24 assists while notching four digs. Ames led the Mustangs with five kills, while Griffenkranz also padded four himself.

In all three sets, both the Mustangs and the Lions seemed to play to the same level up until midway of each set before Emerson would eventually pull away.

Set one featured Piorkowski who finished the opener with five kills, one assist, two service aces and two digs. The Mustangs were ahead in the first set 13-12 on a Hillman service error before the visitors scored the next 11 of 14 points en route to the 25-17 victory.

The second frame, much like the first, was close at 13-10 when Wiley conceded a service error to bring the hosts back to within three. The Mustangs and Lions then went back and forth as Mount Ida kept the score within striking range at 20-16 before Emerson scored 4 of the next 7 points to win the second set.

Both the hosts and the visitors battled back and forth in a tight third set that saw both teams tied down the stretch before the Lions took a 21-18 lead on a Wessel service error. Emerson recorded the next four points to end the game and take home their third GNAC contest of the season.

Mount Ida is back in action on Friday of this week when they host Johnson and Wales in a make-up game which is slated to start at 6:00 PM. The Lions are back in GNAC action when they hit the hardwood on Thursday evening when they host Rivier.