JOHNSON, Vt. – February 4, 2023 – The Dean College men's volleyball team began the 2023 season with a tri-match at Northern Vermont University-Johnson along with Colby-Sawyer.
The Bulldogs dropped a tightly contested season opener to Colby-Sawyer, 3-2, by scores of 14-25, 27-25, 25-19, 21-25 and 15-8. The match did not count towards the conference standings as the teams are slated to meet two more times in the latter stages of the schedule.
Dean then was defeated by host NVU-Johnson, 3-0, by scores of 25-10, 25-16 and 25-17.
The Bulldogs will play their first home match on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. first serve against Fisher inside Pieri Gymnasium.
COLBY-SAWYER 3, DEAN 2 – 14-25, 27-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-8
First-year
Hunter Armitage (Westerly, R.I.) posted an impressive triple-double in his Dean debut. He registered 11 kills, 14 assists and 10 digs. Senior
Tyler Martins (East Providence, R.I.) tallied 17 assists and 17 digs. Junior
Saski Sayue (Providence, R.I.) finished with 10 kills.
Isaac Davies and Austin Ponsness combined for 45 of Colby-Sawyer's 48 kills in the match. Davies had 26 to go with 11 digs, while Ponsness finished with 19 kills and 12 digs. CJ Murphy recorded 42 assists.
Dean got off to a great start to cruise to a 25-14 first-set victory behind 12 kills on .647 hitting.
Things evened out in the second set as each team came away with 13 kills. Colby-Sawyer was on top 24-22, but Dean answered with three straight points, including a couple of kills from junior
Aaron Fonseca (Cranston, R.I.). The Chargers responded with the next three points to take the set, 27-25.
Colby-Sawyer carried the momentum into the third. Holding a slim 18-17 lead, the Chargers went on a 7-2 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Dean didn't back down and tied the match with a 25-21 win in the fourth. The Bulldogs used an 8-1 run after the set was tied 11-11, to take command and cruise to the set victory.
Colby-Sawyer raced out to a 7-2 lead in the deciding set and never looked back. The Bulldogs were able to pull within 10-8, but the Chargers scored the next five points to secure the match.
NVU-JOHNSON 3, DEAN 0 – 25-10, 25-16, 25-17
Armitage led Dean with three kills. Martins had eight digs, five assists and three aces.
Zachary Anderson led the Badgers with nine kills on .571 hitting. He added six assists and four aces. Eli Harden tallied 14 assists, while Luke Walters finished with six aces and six digs.
