Sophomore Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) registered 20 kills and a .302 hitting percentage to lift the Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team over Newbury 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 28-26) in non-conference action on Saturday. With the win, the Falcons improve to 2-0 on the year.
The Falcons opened the contest with a 25-22 first-set victory. After a kill by Newbury's Jake Powell tied the score at 22, the Falcons closed out the set with a 3-0 run thanks to three-straight Newbury errors.
In the second set, despite only picking eight kills, Newbury won 25-21 thanks to 12 hitting miscues by the Falcons. Albertus registered 15 kills in the set along with the 12 errors for a .064 percentage allowing Newbury to grab the set victory.
Albertus bounced back in the third and fourth sets and went on to eventually win 3-1. In the fourth set, the Falcons' struggled again hitting but used a 19-13 lead before a Newbury time out to secure the victory. The Nighthawks were able to cut the Falcons' lead to within one at 24-23 on a Tyler Sayne kill but Johnson put the set away with his 15th kill of the afternoon.
Albertus edged Newbury 28-26 in the final set after falling behind 11-8 before the Nighthawks held a 20-17 advantage late in the frame. After an Albertus timeout, the Falcons tied the set at 22 thanks to a service ace by Johnson. Both teams traded points until they were tied up at 26 apiece. A kill by Chase Brinton (Bethany, Conn.) and then Johnson secured the match victory.
Douglas DeSousa (Danbury, Conn.) dished out 30 assists for the second-straight match for the Falcons as he added 15 digs and seven kills. Mike Clark (North Haven, Conn.) recorded 14 digs and four assists, while freshman Dennis Waibel (Bethlehem, Conn.) added 14 assists.
Johnson added 10 digs for the Falcons, while Brinton finished with 12 kills and a .226 hitting percentage.
Newbury was led by Cody Braden with 45 assists, while Powell finished the afternoon with 23 kills in 56 tries.
Albertus returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 7 to take on Regis College in a 7:00 p.m. match-up in New Haven.
