New York, New York - Middlesex County College defeated the BMCC men's volleyball team in straight sets (25-15, 25-19, 25-23) on Wednesday evening at BMCC Gymnasium. The loss drops the Panthers to 2-2, while the Colts improve to 7-3 with the victory.
Freshman Edwin Martinez (Bronx, New York) led the offensive effort with a career-high seven kills while classmate Hugo Paz (Mexico City, Mexico) dished out a team high 15 assists. Fellow underclassman Emmanuel Lovingood (Queens, New York) smashed a career-best seven service aces in the match.
Underclassman Eugene Villarruz (Queens, New York) led the defensive effort with a team-high eight digs.
Both teams traded the first eight points of the opening set, but Middlesex scored two consecutive points to take a 6-4 lead on a kill from Dhruv Rawal. The Panthers recorded three of the following four points to knot it up at seven on a kill and service ace from Lovingood. The Colts would roll from there, using a 10-1 run to build a nine-point lead 17-8 and cruise to a 25-15 first-set victory.
The Colts jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second Set. The Panthers got as close as four, 10-6, with four of the next six points capped off by a hard left-handed swing by Jonathan Duarte (Bogota, Colombia) for the kill from the front row. Middlesex would get the lead up to nine, 18-9, with eight of the following 11 points capped off by a block from Deivy Perez, and take the second game 25-19.
The Panthers put forth a strong effort in the third, settling in with four of the first five points to lead 4-1, capped by a Perry Tran (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) solo block for the front row near the scorer's table. Duarte's thunderous kill for the right side at the net built the lead back to three, 5-2 for BMCC, but then Middlesex County College rolled off three straight points to tie it at five on a Clayton Davis solo block. After the score was tied twice over the following four points, the Colts notched back-to-back points to lead 9-7 before BMCC rallied to take a 13-9 lead on four consecutive service aces by Lovingood. His service error rewarded Middlesex with their tenth point. The Panthers scored two straight points to build their lead to the largest of the set five, 15-10, capped off by a Paz service ace.
After Middlesex County College tied it at 15 with a 5-0 run, BMCC went back in front 16-15 on a Martinez kill. After being tied four straight times, the Panthers grabbed a 19-18 and 20-19 on a pair of Colt's errors before Middlesex scored four of the following six points to have match point 24-21. The Panthers would not go away, grabbing a kill from Paz and an attack error by the Colts, but a service error from Paz would stop the rally, giving Middlesex the match with a 25-23 third-set victory.
Middlesex County College was led on offense by Justin Zapata, who uncorked a game-high 14 kills, while Kevin Lorenc posted a double-double with a game-best 27 assists and 10 digs. Zapata and Clayton Davis both contributed a game-high two solo blocks apiece.
The Panthers look to remain perfect in Region XV action when they host Nassau Community College on Saturday, March 9, at 1 p.m. at BMCC Gymnasium. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Volleyball Schedule Page.
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