The Emerson men’s volleyball team won its first two games in a dominant fashion, holding Lesley University to 22 total points across three sets in the season opener in Cambridge. The Lions allowed just four points in the second set and nine each in the first and third.
Lesley took the third point of the first set to make it 2-1, but Emerson went on to win the next seven points to push the lead to 9-1, facing little resistance en route to a first set win. The Lions got even better in set two, winning 16 of the first 17 points.
Coach Ben Read got everyone on the roster in for playing time during the blowout.
Emerson briefly moved to 2-0 for the year after sweeping Newbury College in the first game of their home-opening doubleheader last Saturday. Once again, the Lions shut out their opponent, winning each set by at least six points. In the first set, they went on a 7-1 run to close out.
“We’ve done a good job winning the games we’re supposed to win so far,” said senior captain Tom Carroll, a journalism major. “As we start playing [Great Northeast Athletic Conference] games, we really have to do a better job limiting our mistakes. We can’t give away free points to really good teams.”
The second game of the doubleheader was a different story, though.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ranked 12th in the country in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Division 3 men’s poll, released on Jan. 28, and although Emerson played MIT tight in all three sets, the Lions got swept, 3-0, in Saturday’s nightcap.
Emerson may not have been able to win a set against MIT, but they hung around and proved they could hang with some of the better teams in the GNAC. Emerson’s best chance of stealing a game came in the second set, trailing 23-22, but the MIT offense was too much to handle.
The first few matches of the season have only reinforced the team’s confidence, according to Carroll, who expects Emerson to be competitive throughout the season.
Assistant sports editor Connor Burton did not edit this story because he is a member of the men’s volleyball team.