DALLAS, Pa. - The No. 17 MIT men's volleyball team dropped two hard-fought matches to ranked opponents to close out the Cougar Kickoff Classic hosted by Misericordia. The Engineers opened the day with a four-set loss to No. 12 Messiah and followed with a tough five-set loss to the host, and the 20th-ranked Cougars.
Seniors Grant Oh and Riley Oh (Irvine, Calif.) were named to the All-Tournament team.
THE BASICS:
- Scores:
Messiah 3, MIT 1 (25-23, 24-26, 29-27, 25-23)
Misericordia 3, MIT 2 (19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 16-25, 15-12)
- Records: MIT (7-2 Overall), No. 12 Messiah (8-1 Overall), No. 20 Misericordia (10-6)
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. MESSIAH
- Set 1: The Engineers grabbed an early 4-2 lead on a kill from Grant Oh. The Falcons pulled even as the teams went back-and-forth for the majority of the set. A 4-1 run for Messiah gave them a 16-13 advantage but an ace by first-year Hansen Fan (Center Valley, Pa.) brought the teams even at 19. An attacking error by Messiah tied the match at 23, but the Falcons tallied the next two points for the set one victory.
- Set 2: First-year Kristof Spellen (New Rochelle, N.Y.) put MIT in the lead 10-5 with a kill, and a 4-0 run later in the set put the Engineers ahead 16-9. With MIT holding set point, Messiah rattled off three-straight points to pull even at 24 but kills from Grant Oh and Spellen gave the Engineers the 26-24 win.
- Set 3: Alex Kagoro (Irondequoit, N.Y.) put Messiah up 10-5 with a kill as the Falcons built a 14-6 advantage early on. The Engineers used a 6-1 run to pull to within three at 15-12. Messiah held off the Engineers until a 6-0 run capped by a Spellen ace put MIT in the lead 24-23. The teams then exchanged points until Messiah pulled away for the 29-27 win.
- Set 4: A 5-1 put the Falcons up 9-7 but the Engineers hung around and tied the match at 16. Messiah responded with a 7-0 run, but MIT chipped away at the lead and eventually got to within one to make it 24-23, but the Falcons held on for the 25-23 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Grant Oh led MIT with 17 kills followed by sophomore Ryan Espinoza (Los Angles, Calif.) with 12 and junior Michael Rini (Huntington Beach, Calif.) with nine. Grant Oh also recorded a team-high 10 digs.
- Spellen recorded a match-high eight aces.
- Riley Oh recorded a match-high 45 assists and also had nine digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED vs. MISERICORDIA
- Set 1: With Misericordia leading 7-5, the Engineers scored four-straight, capped by a kill from Grant Oh to take an 8-7 lead. The teams exchanged runs before MIT was able to pull out to a 17-14 lead off an ace from Espinoza. The Cougars were unable to cut into the Engineer lead as a kill from first-year Maddox Brandenburg (Carlsbad, Calif.) gave MIT the 25-19 win.
- Set 2: The Cougars doubled up MIT at 12-6 off an Engineer attacking error. The Engineers hung around but were unable to catch up to the host who held on to tie up the match with a 25-19 win.
- Set 3: The hosts once again jumped out to an early lead at 13-6. MIT slowly chipped away at the lead, and a kill from Grant Oh made it a 20-19 Misericordia lead, but the Engineers were unable to pull ahead as the Cougars took set three, 25-23.
- Set 4: Back-to-back attacking errors helped MIT build a 9-6 advantage. A 7-1 run capped by an Espinoza kill built up the Engineers lead to 20-13. Riley Oh then sent the team to a decisive fifth set with a kill that gave MIT the 25-16 win.
- Set 5: With the Cougars holding a 7-5 advantage, MIT recorded the next two points to pull even. The teams went back-and-forth before a 3-0 run from Misericordia put them up 13-10. Grant Oh cut the lead to 13-12 with a kill but the host scored the next two to secure the 15-12 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Grant Oh recorded 15 kills followed by Spellen with 13 and Espinoza with 12. Grant Oh also led MIT with 12 digs. Junior Kevin Windisch (Placentia, Calif.) followed with nine.
- Riley Oh totaled a career-high 50 assists in the match.
- Jared Piontkowski (Nanticoke, Pa.) tallied a match high 26 kills.
UP NEXT:
- The Engineers are back in action on Wednesday, February 5 for a 7:00 PM road contest at Lasell.
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