The Albertus Magnus men's volleyball team went 2-0 on Sunday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play in New Haven.
The Falcons opened the day with a 3-2 come from behind victory over Emerson College as the Falcons were led by Raul Rojas Rivera (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) with 17 kills and 14 digs in five sets. Rojas added five blocks as well.
Justin Tharau (Burlington, Conn.) added 14 kills and 10 digs, while Glenn Johnson (Newington, Conn.) tallied 13 kills and 14 digs.
Emerson opened the day with a 25-21 win before Albertus bounced back to take a 25-22 win in set number two. Albertus edged the Lions with a 26-24 third-set victory. Tharau led all Falcons with a set-high six kills in 10 attempts in the third set. He added three digs, while Rojas tallied three kills and three digs.
Johnson led the Falcons with four kills in the fourth set despite a 25-22 loss.
The final set was a thriller to the end as the Falcons secured the match victory with a 17-15 win. Rojas tallied five kills in eight tries, while Tharau and Brendan Charamut (Southington, Conn.) each chipped in with three kills in the shortened set. The Falcons had their best hitting percentage of the match in the final set as they tallied a .333 showing with 13 kills in 27 attempts.
Emerson's Jackson Wiley led all players with 25 kills in 59 tries. He added 12 digs. Jared Gross led all players with 20 digs, while Ben Hillman tallied 16 kills and nine digs. Brendan McGonigle dished out 58 assists to go along with 12 digs and five blocks.
Douglas DeSousa (Danbury, Conn.) handed out 46 assists for Albertus to go along with 11 digs and three kills.
In the Falcons' second match of the day, Albertus cruised to a 3-0 win over Mount Ida.
Rojas led the Falcons with 13 kills in 25 attempts, while he added six digs and four blocks. DeSousa added four blocks, eight digs, and 29 assists, while Ben Spilka (Redding, Conn.) added two solo blocks and four block assists.
Raymond Torres (Catano, Puerto Rico) led all players with 17 digs, while Glenn Johnson added seven kills.
Rojas tallied eight kills in 13 tries in the opening set as the Falcons picked up a dominating 25-14 victory. He added five kills in set number two as the Falcons edged the Mustangs 25-21.
Johnson led the Falcons in the final set as he tallied four kills in eight attempts. In that set, Albertus cruised to a 25-19 win despite a late rally by the Mustangs.
Mount Ida was led by James Ames with six kills, while Ames added seven digs. Jimmy Wessel led his team with 11 digs. The Mustangs struggled offensively as they posted set percentages of .000, -.059 and -.267 in the three sets.
Albertus returns to action on Thursday when the Falcons, now 7-4 overall and 2-3 in league play, travel to Rhode Island to take on Johnson & Wales in GNAC play.
