The Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller to Johnson & Wales to open Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Thursday night. JWU notched a 3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-8) victory to improve to 5-4 on the year, while the Falcons fall to 4-3 overall with the loss.
Sophomore Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) paced Albertus with 19 kills and 12 digs, while Carlos Torres (Adjuntas, Puerto Rico) dished out 47 assists in the loss.
After the Falcons lost in the opening set, they bounced back in the second with a 25-22 victory led by four kills in 10 attempts by Johnson. After losing the third set by five points, the Falcons edged the Wildcats 25-21 in the fourth. Johnson led the Falcons with seven kills in the frame.
In the final set, the Falcons struggled with just seven kills in 18 attempts with five hitting errors. JWU hit .500 led by three kills from Dan Struebing. JWU jumped out to a 6-2 lead before extending its lead to 8-4. Albertus cut the JWU lead to one at 9-8 on an attack error by Struebing before the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to finish the contest as they secured the match victory with a 15-8 set win.
J.J. Bessette tallied 50 assists in the win for the Wildcats, while Dan Struebing added 14 kills and 11 blocks.
Sophomore Chase Brinton (Bethany, Conn.) added 12 kills and five digs for the Falcons, while Douglas DeSousa (Danbury, Conn.) chipped in with 11 kills and 11 digs.
Albertus returns to action when the Falcons travel to Brooklyn, N.Y. for a tri-match against Brooklyn College and St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn. The first match of the day for the Falcons will begin at 1:00 p.m.