Box Score THE BASICS
Score: Johnson & Wales 3, Emerson 0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-23)
Records: Emerson Lions (13-13, 6-9 GNAC); Johnson & Wales Wildcats (20-14, 8-6 GNAC)
Location: Providence, R.I. (Wildcat Center)
Date: April 11, 2017
The Lead: Sophomore Mark Piorkowski (Montclair, N.J.) hammered an overall match-high 15 kills for the Lions, but it was not enough to pull the No. 5 Emerson men's volleyball team past No. 4 Johnson & Wales as the Wildcats ended the Lions postseason run with a 3-0 defeat in the quarterfinal round of the GNAC Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE
- Johnson & Wales gained an early nine point 16-7 lead over Emerson before the Lions countered for the next trio of points to bring themselves to within six at 16-10 on a kill from Piorkowski.
- With the score at 18-11 after a service error, Johnson & Wales extended its lead into double digits with the next five of six points to put the score at 23-12.
- Emerson was able to scrape up the last four of six scores to close within eight of Johnson & Wales a kill from sophomore Win Kittivatcharapong (Bangkok, Thailand) and a trio of errors with score at 24-16.
- A kill from Kanila Chang wrapped up the 25-16 win for the Wildcats.
SET TWO
- The Wildcats once again started the set off with a lengthy lead over the Lions and claimed the double figures lead of 15-5 after an attack error.
- Johnson & Wales put up three more points before Emerson was able to register a pair of point from a Kittivatcharapong kill to put the score at 18-7.
- With the lead in their favor, Johnson & Wales countered for the next five consecutive points to extend its lead to 23-10 before Emerson strung together three points to bring the score to 23-10.
- Johnson & Wales claimed the 25-10 win on back-to-back swings from Matt Lavasseur and Nick Bitetto.
SET THREE
- Emerson notched its first lead of match at 7-5 and did not relinquish its advantage throughout a majority of the third frame despite Johnson & Wales knotting the score twice.
- The Lions were four points away from forcing a fourth set with the 21-18 lead, but the Wildcats were able to square the score up 21-all on Chang's kill and again at 22-22 and 23-23.
- Johnson & Wales battled their way back and grabbed the comeback 25-23 third set win on a kill by Brendan Baker.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Piorkowski racked up a match-high 15 kills to match three digs and one block for 15 points.
- Junior Nick Rusk (Fort Lauderdale, Fl.) recorded 26 assists, freshman Carl D'Aguiar (Tujunga, Calif.) racked up 14 digs and junior Stig Regan (Kailua, Hi.) had three blocks.
- Chang hammered a team-best 11 digs for Johnson & Wales, Jason Rhee registered 28 assists, Lavasseur served a pair of aces and eight blocks and Alex Seda had 15 digs.
UP NEXT
- Emerson's 2017 season has concluded.
- Johnson & Wales head to No. 1 Wentworth on Thursday, April 13 for the semifinal round of the GNAC Tournament at 7:00 p.m.
STAY LIVE WITH THE LIONS
