Men's Volleyball Stays Undefeated With Straight Set Victory Over Rivier

NASHUA, N.H. –The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team improved to 3-0 in GNAC play this season and 9-0 overall with a 3-0 win over Rivier University Thursday evening, as junior Hunter Oshman (Pennington, N.J.) picked up 17 kills while sophomore Jacob LaBouliere (Pipersville, Pa.) added 10 kills and seven digs.

RECORDS

• Wentworth (9-0, 3-0 GNAC)
• Rivier (1-4, 1-1 GNAC)

WENTWORTH STAT LEADERS:

• Kills – Hunter Oshman, 17; Jacob LaBouliere, 10
• Assists – Connor Adams, 27
• Digs – Jacob LaBouliere, 7; Connor Adams, 5
• Aces – Jacob LaBouliere, 4; Jacob Waga, 2

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• After the teams played to a 3-3 tie in the first, LaBouliere gave Wentworth the lead with one of his 10 kills, and the Leopards added another point to go up by two. After Rivier came back to tie it at five, Wentworth picked up the offense. Oshman connected on a pair of kills, and after a handful of errors from Rivier, the Leopards were able to build a 16-10 lead. The Raiders won the next two points to pull within four, but a kill by LaBouliere and a kill by senior Connor Adams (Budd Lake, N.J.) extended the lead back to six. A trio of kills by Oshman then put the visitors ahead 22-15. Rivier again responded, winning four straight to narrow the gap to three points, but with the score at 23-19, Oshman and LaBouliere connected on kills to finish the set at a 25-22 score.
• Graduate student David Marsh (Springfield, Mass.) and sophomore Tyler Jack (San Jose, Calif.) got Wentworth started in the second with one kill apiece, and three more kills from Oshman helped the Leopards draw even at 5-5. After the teams traded points and remained tied at 9-9, Wentworth ran off four straight, capped off by another Oshman kill. One more kill and an ace from the junior pushed the lead to five points, answered by a 5-1 run from the Raiders to pull within a point at 17-16. Three more points from Rivier had the second set tied late at 20-20. However, Oshman and junior Alex McLane (Columbus, Ohio) added one kill each, and with the Leopards leading 24-23, Oshman finished off the middle frame with a kill to put Wentworth up 2-0 in the match.
• LaBouliere and junior Colin Stockton (Hummelstown, Pa.) helped the visitors out to a 4-3 lead in the third with each recording a kill, but Rivier took four of the next five points to take the lead and eventually went up 11-8. The Leopards came back strong in the middle of the set, however, as LaBouliere came through with four kills, while Adams and Oshman had one finisher each as part of a 9-2 stretch to put Wentworth ahead 19-14. The Raiders came back to win four of five and get within two, but three straight points from the Leopards put the score at 23-18. From there, two more kills from Oshman finished things off, as Wentworth completed a straight set victory to improve to 3-0 in GNAC competition.

THE SERIES:

• The two teams met for the 49^th time Thursday evening. Rivier now leads the series 32-17 all time.

NEXT UP:

• The Leopards return to the court Tuesday, Feb. 15, when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. to face MIT at 7:00 p.m.

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