LANCASTER, Pa. — The Pratt Institute men's volleyball team won the opening set of their non-conference match with the University of Valley Forge on Saturday before falling 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-22). In their second match of the day, the Cannoneers fell in straight sets (25-8, 25-11, 25-11) to host Lancaster Bible College in a United East Conference matchup.
The black-and-gold never trailed in the first set with Valley Forge leading by as many as five at 15-10 and holding on after clinging to a 19-18 lead. A highly contested saw 12 ties and five lead changes and a deadlock at 21-all, but Valley Forge leveled the match closing out the set winning four of the final five points. The Patriots pulled away early in the third and fourth frames to create some separation. Pratt faced a nine-point deficit in the fourth before staging a late run to try and force a fifth set and pulled within two at 23-21, but came up short.
Jason Raymond led Pratt with 10 kills on an efficient .500 hitting and racked up eight blocks (one solo). Max Wang and Joji Kawamura added eight kills each, Wang bringing up 12 digs and Kawamura also serving up three aces and adding a solo block. Wallace Hallot chipped in four kills with two blocks and Brooks Reid dished out 26 assists with five blocks (all assisted).
Valley Forge was led by 12 kills each from Clay Confer and Toby Harris, confer also adding 14 digs. The Cannoneers and Patriots will meet again in a conference match on April 2 at The Hill Center.
In Pratt's match with Lancaster Bible, Kawamura paced the Cannoneers with five kills on .200 hitting with six digs. Wang added three kills and four digs and Raymond contributed a pair as the Cannoneers only led once early in the second in the 3-0 defeat. Lancaster Bible had a balanced attack combining to hit .519 and Nicholas Marion leading the Chargers with nine kills.
Pratt welcomes Bryn Athyn College to Brooklyn for a United East Conference matchup on Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. from The Hill Center at St. Joseph's University.
