FREDERICK, Md. – Although it looked like Mount Aloysius would push the match to a decisive fifth set, a long fourth-set comeback from the Hood College men's volleyball team ended that thought, defeating the Mounties 3-1 in their first home match of the season.
Set Scores
The Blazers won 25-9, 23-25, 25-22, 28-26.
Inside the Box Score
Adam Bartice (Washington, D.C./Woodrow Wilson) led the Blazers with 14 kills and 10 digs.
Gael Bravo (Lanham, Md./Bowie High School) set the team up the entire night, racking up 34 of the team's 36 assists.
Sean Seely (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage High School) served up six aces.
How it Happened
The first set was controlled by Hood the entire time, going on a 7-0 run to start, and Mount Aloysius not getting a kill until halfway through to make it a 13-4 advantage for the Blazers. The Mounties never made any real threat as the Blazers took an early 1-0 match lead.
Mount Aloysius found their groove starting the second set, as the Mounties took an early 5-1 lead. Hood came back to tie the score at six, and both squads exchanged points until Mount Aloysius put the Blazers on the brink with back-to-back kills to take a 24-22 lead.
Hood started the third set on the back foot as well, as the Mounties took advantage of early errors for a 4-0 lead, but the Blazers fought right back with three service aces in a row from Seely helping Hood to a 6-4 advantage. Neither team could gain much footing after but with a 20-20 score, the Blazers were able to capitalize on errors from the Mounties to close out the set and take a 2-1 match lead.
Set four seemed to play out similar to the previous two, as both teams went back and forth to start. Mount Aloysius found their footing after each side accrued 13 points, going on a 7-2 run and seemingly preparing the rest of Blazer Arena for a fifth set when they pushed it to a 24-20 advantage.
Hood was not ready to go down just yet though, as forced errors and a kill from Seely tied the set 24-24 to force an extended set. Despite the Mounties managing to tie the set twice, the Blazers managed to get back-to-back kills from Bartice and
Jaden Wilkins (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) to complete the comeback and win the match 3-1.
For the Opponent
Matthew Franz finished with 16 kills.
Jason Freed ended the evening with 3.5 total blocks.
Up Next
The Blazers host their first tri-match of the season against Elizabethtown and Neumann University this Saturday, February 2 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
