Stevenson men’s volleyball dropped its third consecutive match to open the season, losing in straight sets Saturday morning to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 25-19, 25-21, and 25-20.
Despite the loss, there were promising performances from the Mustangs. Junior outside hitter Tim Flanagan led the Mustangs with 15 kills hitting .367 and 7 digs, while classmate Ryan Thenell added 8 kills and first-year outside Anthony Pezzino 7, hitting .308. Senior middle blocker Aidan O’Brien added 3 blocks.
Even with impressive individual performances, the Mustangs couldn’t get anything rolling from the start. They struggled in serve-receive, causing self-inflicted errors that snowballed as the match went on. The Mustangs lost the serving battle 4 aces to none, shifting momentum to the Engineers.
In the second and third sets, the Mustangs came out firing but couldn’t string together a deciding run. The Mustangs led throughout the second, but M.I.T. scored 5 of the final 6 points to turn a 20-20 tie into a 25-20 victory for the Engineers.
In the third, the Mustangs’ final lead was 5-4 before M.I.T. eventually sealed the victory.
After the match, Flanagan said the team suffered a slow start in a match that started at 10 a.m.
“We tried to get back into the groove of things, which is bad,” Flanagan said. “We need to be ramped up and already be in the game.”
The early start time could have played in to the Mustangs downfall on Saturday morning, but one thing is certain: Stevenson must find a way to record a win.
Stevenson looks to find that groove again Friday night when they host Roanoke College (3-4) at 7 p.m. in Owings Mills Gymnasium. Next, the team’s first road trip to Union, New Jersey this Saturday with more chances to establish themselves against Kean University (4-3) and SUNY-New Paltz (2-3).
