United Volleyball Conference MIT Athletic Communications

MIT Rallies to Defeat No. 15 Lasell in Four-Set Thriller

THE BASICS:

- Score: MIT – 3, No. 15 Lasell - 1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22)

- Records: MIT (10-5), Lasell (12-6)

- Location: Newton, Mass. (Athletic Center)

- The Lead: After dropping the first set, the MIT men's volleyball team won the next three to defeat No. 15 Lasell on the road in a tightly contested Friday night road match.


HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Set 1: With the home team holding a 20-13 lead, MIT rattled off four straight points to pull to within three. The Lasers responded as they scored three of the next four and went on to win set one, 25-20.
 
- Set 2: Lasell jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Engineers got to within one on the serve of junior Jack Yurkanin (New Lenox, Ill.). A kill from junior Nicholas Gustafson (San Diego, Calif.) followed by an ace from senior Bradley Albright (Burnt Hills, N.Y.) tied the set at 12. The teams went back-and-forth before a 3-0 Lasell run made it 19-17. MIT responded by scoring eight of the next 10 points as a kill from Gustafson sealed the 25-21 win.
 
- Set 3: MIT held a 9-6 advantage, but the Lasers used a 5-0 run to pull ahead. Albright tied the match at 12 with an ace, and back-to-back kills from Gustafson and Yurkanin started a 4-0 Engineers run to give them a 16-13 lead. Three straight points from Lasell got them to within one, but MIT got four of the next five points to win the set.
 
-  Set 4: Trailing 12-9, Lasell scored five of the next six points to take a 14-13 lead. The Engineers pulled even, and the teams went back-and-forth before three-straight kills from first-year Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) gave MIT a 20-18 advantage as the Engineers held on for the 25-22 win to seal the match.



INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

-  This is the second win against a top-15 team for the Engineers this season.
 
- Gustafson led MIT with 19 kills while Yurkanin added 16 and tallied seven digs while hitting .481.
 
-  Sophomore Max Turner (Chandler, Ariz.) finished with 33 assists while first-year Robin Liu (Fremont, Calif.) added five.
 
- Oh finished with nine kills and eight digs, and senior Tommy Ogeka (Manorville, N.Y.) added six digs and two assists.


UP NEXT:

- The Engineers are right back at it tomorrow afternoon with a road contest against No. 2 Springfield College. The match is slated to begin at 2 p.m.