CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 14, 2026) – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ranked No. 19 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III poll, notched a 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-17) victory over Emerson College in a non-conference men's volleyball matchup at Rockwell Cage this evening.
First year Alexander Garrett led an MIT attack that hit .333 as a team in the match with a match-high 16 kills, with just five errors for a .478 hitting percentage, adding a service ace, three digs and two block assists. Junior Jensen Fisken dished out 17 assists with two digs and two block assists, while classmate Ryan Espinoza (Los Angeles, California/Loyola) contributed six kills, six service aces, eight digs and two block assists.
Junior Riley Goldman and first year Cade Ott led Emerson with three kills apiece, while Ott added an ace and five digs. First year Ryan Chen dished out nine assists with three digs and a block assist for the Lions.
MIT never trailed in a match that was knotted just twice in the first set on the way to victory. The Engineers used an 11-2 run, led by three kills from Garrett, to take control of the opening set with a 14-5 lead. Garrett finished the set with eight kills, including two-straight after an Espinoza ace to close out the set.
MIT scored eight straight points on Espinoza's first serve in the second set, including three-straight aces, to open a ten-point lead (14-4). The Engineers capped the set with a pair of Garrett kills on Espinoza's serve as well.
Garrett put down four more kills on four total attacks in the third set as MIT completed the sweep. The Engineers opened an eight-point cushion (13-5) on a kill from sophomore Hansen Fan to take control. Emerson's best run of the match came on sophomore Mario Cielo-Salinas' serve with the Lions scoring five-straight points to pull back within five (19-14) after an ace.
Emerson (3-6, 0-0 GNAC) returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Nichols College for a non-conference clash at Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium at 7 p.m. MIT (10-2, 1-0 UVC) visits Elms College on Friday at 7 p.m.
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