MIT Men’s Volleyball Falls to Rivier on Senior Night

Recap, photo courtesy of MIT

THE BASICS:

- Score: Rivier University 3, MIT 1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19)

- Records: MIT (15-7), Rivier University (22-6) 

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)

- The Lead: In its home finale, the MIT men's volleyball team fell to Rivier University in a non-conference match, 3-1, by set scores of 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 on Wednesday. Prior to the match, the Engineers honored their two seniors Andrew Hall (Lynnfield, Mass.) and Tavish Smith (Laguna Beach, Calif.) as they played in the final home game of their collegiate careers tonight.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- MIT jumped out to an early 7-3 lead after Hall tallied four kills over a span of five points in the first set. Rivier was able to come back to tie the set at 10-10 and take an 11-10 lead after a block by Cam Roth and Dashaun Graham. Both teams then traded points until the score was even at 19-19, but the Engineers went on a 6-3 set ending run which featured five kills by Smith as MIT took the opening set, 25-22.

- Rivier score the first three points of the second set on three straight kills, but MIT took advantage of some errors by the visitors to tie the score at 4-4. From that point on, the second set was even at 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 before a 4-0 run by Rivier gave the Raiders the largest advantage they would need to even the match at 1-1. MIT was able to cut the deficit back to three after a Rivier service error, but an MIT service error and an attacking error gave the Raiders the second set, 25-20.

- Back-to-back service aces by Smith gave MIT an 11-8 lead in the third set, but a 10-3 run by Rivier capped by a kill from David Smith gave the Raiders the lead back at 18-14. A kill by T. Smith for the Engineers cut the Raiders lead back to two, 18-16, but three straight points put the third set out of reach as Rivier took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-19 third set win.

- Rivier led what proved to the final set from start to finish as the Raiders claimed the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-1. The visitors opened the fourth on a 6-2 run and MIT never got any closer than three points the rest of the way. MIT closed the fourth set by outscoring Rivier 5-3, but it wasn't enough as Graham's eighth kill of the night sealed the match for Rivier.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- MIT had three student-athletes with double-digit kills led by Smith with 18. Smith was followed by junior Skyler Kaufman (Needham, Mass.), who had 11 and Hall, who posted ten kills of his own. Junior Yize Dong (Moraga, Calif.) posted a team-high 35 assists and swung for two kills, while freshman Christopher Cheung (San Diego, Calif.) tallied a team-high eight digs.

- Rivier was led by D. Smith, who had 19 kills on 29 swings offensively, while Garrett Bucklin handed out 55 assists and Roth registered a match-high 17 digs.

- As a team, MIT hit .194 (46-21-129), totaled 41 assists, six service aces, 39 digs and three solo blocks, while Rivier hit .392 (60-13-120), which went along with 57 assists, five service aces, 56 digs and eight block assists.