THE BASICS:

- Score: Benedictine - 3, No. 10 MIT - 1  (28-30, 25-20, 27-25, 25-20)

- Records: MIT (5-2), Benedictine (2-3)

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)

- The Lead: The No. 10 MIT men's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to visiting Benedictine on Sunday afternoon at Rockwell Cage. After the Engineers won a thrilling first set, the Eagles responded to win the next three to take the match.


HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Set 1: The two teams went back-and-forth early on before a kill from junior Dylan Ryan (Oviedo, Fla.) sparked a 5-0 MIT run to put the Engineers up 16-13. Benedictine responded by scoring three-straight to make it a one-point affair and tied the match off an MIT error. The visitors had a chance to take the first set with a 24-22 lead, but a service error and a kill from first-year Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) tied the match. Back-to-back kills from junior Troy Oliveira (San Diego, Calif.) gave MIT a 28-27 lead but a kill from Martin Radomski tied the match yet again. A service error gave the Engineers set point and a kill from Ryan gave MIT the thrilling 30-28 win.
 
- Set 2: MIT raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set to force a timeout by the visitors. The Engineers continued to lead the match before a 7-1 run from the Eagles gave them an 18-16 lead and forced an MIT timeout. The Engineers got a kill from Ryan out of the pause to get to within one, however, they would be unable to regain the lead as the visitors took the second set, 25-20.
 
- Set 3: Benedictine used a 5-0 run to take a 9-7 lead but a 3-0 MIT run got the match even at 12. From there neither team could pull ahead as the set featured 18 ties and eight lead changes. With the visitors leading 25-24, Ryan tied the match with a kill, but the next two points went to the Eagles for the 27-25 win.
 
- Set 4: The visitors got off to a quick start in the fourth set, going up 10-4 to force an MIT timeout. Out of the break, the Engineers scored five of the next eight points to pull to within four and force a visitor's timeout. After three-straight MIT points, capped by a kill from Oh, the Engineers were back to within one, however, Benedictine scored four-straight to pull ahead 17-12. MIT wasn't done as a 4-0 run out of a timeout, punctuated by a kill from junior Jack Yurkanin (New Lenox, Ill.) that got MIT back to within one. The visitors went back up by three before a kill from Oh and back-to-back attacking errors tied the match at 19. That would be the last tie as Benedictine scored six of the next seven to win the set.


INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- G. Oh led the MIT attack with 19 kills followed by Ryan with 11.
 
- First-year Riley Oh (Irvine, Calif.) finished the match with 40 assists to go along with 14 digs.
 
- Senior Tommy Ogeka (Manorville, N.Y.) finished with 12 digs and added four assists.
 
- The match featured 41 ties and 18 lead changes.


UP NEXT:

- The Engineers are back on the court on Tuesday, February 8th as MIT hosts Emerson for a 7 p.m. contest in Rockwell Gym.


STAY CONNECTED:

- For the latest on MIT Athletics, follow the Engineers via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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