WASHINGTON — The Pratt Institute men's volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Saturday, falling 3-0 to host Gallaudet University in a United East Conference contest before being defeated 3-0 by Penn State Behrend in a neutral-site match.
The Cannoneers (5-10, 2-2 United East) were defeated by Gallaudet (5-12, 2-1 United East) by set scores of 25-17, 25-14, 25-21. In the second match, Pratt fell to Penn State Behrend (14-5) with scores of 25-16, 25-15, 25-14.
In the opener against the Bison, Griffin Benkovszky (Ashland, Va.) had a standout defensive performance with a match-high 15 digs. Brooks Reid (Winston Salem, N.C.) led the black-and-gold attack with seven kills, while Max Wang (Shenzhen, China) added five kills and seven digs. Nathan Kim (Irvine, Calif.) distributed 19 assists and scooped up seven digs.
The Cannoneers fought to the end, putting together their best performance in a competitive third set, shrinking a seven-point deficit to one, 21-20, but could not overtake the hosts to force an extra frame. Gallaudet was led by a 15-kill, 11-dig double-double from Zachary Bippus, while setter Troy Holcomb finished with 33 assists.
In the second match of the day against Penn State Behrend, Reid once again paced the offense with seven kills. Wang led the defensive effort with 11 digs, and Benkovszky contributed six kills and five digs. Kim handed out 15 assists for the Pratt offense.
Penn State Behrend hit an efficient .356 as a team, led by seven kills from Eddie Cebula and five from Lewis Rhodes. The Lions also established a strong presence at the net, finishing with nine total blocks.
The Cannoneers will travel to Aston, Pa., on Wednesday, March 11, for their next United East matchup against Neumann University. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m.
