The Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team fell to Johnson & Wales (R.I.) 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-18) in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Tuesday night in New Haven.

JWU was led by Matt Jenkins with 13 kills and nine digs, while J.J. Bessette dished out 30 assists as the Wildcats improved to 9-13 on the year and 6-4 in GNAC action. With the loss, the Falcons fall to 8-11 overall and 0-9 in league play.

JWU jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set thanks to two kills from Jenkins and one from Ryan Kennedy. After an Albertus timeout, the Wildcats pushed out to a 10-5 lead before the Falcons battled back to cut the lead to two at 10-8. JWU went on a 5-2 run to extend its lead and never looked back. The Falcons fell behind 17-11 before another Albertus timeout. Out of the timeout, JWU cruised to the 25-16 victory.

The Falcons dropped the second set 25-19 as they hit just .087 with eight kills, and six hitting errors, in 23 attempts. After opening the third set 3-1, JWU answered with a 6-0 run to take a 7-3 lead. The Wildcats extended their lead to eight at 15-7 before pushing out to a 20-9 advantage. Albertus battled back once again led by back-to-back service aces from Matt Brancaccio (West Haven, Conn.), which allowed the Falcons to cut the JWU lead to seven at 22-15. Despite cutting the lead to 24-18 late in the set, a kill by Ambrose Hogan III secured the match victory for the Wildcats.

Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) led the Falcons with 10 kills in 24 tries, while Chris Pfeffer (Torrington, Conn.) recorded three kills, six digs and two blocks.  Freshman Dennis Waibel (Bethlehem, Conn.) registered 20 assists as teammate Chase Brinton (Bethany, Conn.) added nine kills and a team-high 10 digs in the loss.

Albertus will return to action on Saturday, March 30 when the Falcons travel to Boston to take on Emmanuel and Rivier in a GNAC tri-match.  Emmanuel will play host to the Falcons at noon before Albertus and Rivier face off at 2:00 p.m.