CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The No. 20 MIT men's volleyball team split a pair of matches during a tri-match on Saturday afternoon at Rockwell Cage. MIT dropped its first match to Nazareth, 3-1, before rebounding to top SUNY Poly, 3-0, in the nightcap. 

THE BASICS:  

• Scores:  
  • Nazareth 3, MIT 1 (25-23, 26-24, 25–21, 25-18) 
  • Nazareth 3, SUNY Poly 2 (22-25, 25-11, 21-25, 28-26, 15-13) 
  • MIT 3, SUNY Poly 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17) 

• Records: MIT (10-8 Overall, 0-4 UVC), Nazareth (12-8 Overall, 2-1 UVC), SUNY Poly (11-9 Overall) 

HOW IT HAPPENED – MATCH ONE VS. NAZARETH  

• Set 1: With Nazareth leading 20-15 late in the set, MIT scored four straight points, taking advantage of three straight attacking errors by the Golden Flyers to close the gap to 20-19. Unfortunately for MIT, Nazareth was able to hang on over the final nine points, closing out the set on an MIT error, 25-23. 

• Set 2: MIT turned the tables in the second, winning a closely contested frame, 26-24, to tie the match. The teams played to a 24-all tie in the second. With MIT leading 24-23, a Nazareth kill from Max Stuver (Webster, N.Y.) tied the match but MIT secured the final two points, on a kill by Maddox Brandenburg (Carlsbad, Calif.) and a Golden Flyers error.   

• Set 3: MIT opened an early advantage, taking a 6-1 lead following a kill by Grant Oh (Irvine, Calif.) but it was Nazareth that took control of the set late to go up 2-1 in the match. With MIT leading 19-17, Nazareth scored six straight points to take a 23-19 lead. Back-to-back errors from the Golden Flyers opened the door for MIT but an MIT service error and an attack error saw Nazareth take the set, 25-21. 

• Set 4: Nazareth put the match away with a 25-18 victory in the fourth set. The Golden Flyers jumped to a 13-9 lead before extending the advantage to 17-11. MIT trimmed the deficit to 17-14 with three straight points but the Engineers would not get any closer as Nazareth closed out the 25-18 final.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:  

• Oh led the match with 23 kills. Jensen Fiskin (Palm Desert, Calif.) contributed 43 assists and two aces. Brandenburg finished with seven kills and four blocks. 
• Ryan Murphy (Penfield, N.Y.) led the Golden Flyers with 12 kills while AJ Burda (Fairport, N.Y.) had 27 assists.  

HOW IT HAPPENED – MATCH TWO VS. SUNY POLY 

• Set 1: With the set tied 19-19, MIT found a late advantage in set one, scoring six straight points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Oh delivered three kills in the final run including the final point of the frame.  
   
• Set 2: After Oh gave the Engineers a 5-3 lead, Poly used a 4-0 run capped by an ace from Peter Gottler (Buffalo, N.Y.) to take a 7-5 advantage. Back-to-back aces from sophomore Ryan Espinoza (Los Angeles, Calif.) put MIT back in the lead 17-16 and Oh tallied three of the final four points to give MIT the 25-21 win.  
   
• Set 3: MIT opened with a 13-7 lead and an Oh kill increased the Engineer advantage to 18-9. An ace from graduate student Azfal Peermohammed (Pleasanton, Calif.) match point and an error by Wildcats sealed the match for MIT.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:  

• Oh led the way with 21 kills followed by junior Kevin Windisch (Placentia, Calif.) with 6. Windisch also had an ace, two blocks, and a team high nine digs. Fiskin finished with 34 assists.  

UP NEXT:  

• MIT will host a tri-match again next Saturday, March 8 at Rockwell Cage. The Engineers will play host to New Paltz at 1:00 PM and Wentworth at 5:00 PM, with the two visitors playing at 3:00 PM.  

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