Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Medgar Evers College men's volleyball team competed at the Johnson and Wales University (RI) tri-match in Providence, RI, on Saturday, March 23.

The Cougars (13-4) fell to the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology in their first match (22-25, 17-25, 21-25) before dropping their second match of the day to the host Wildcats (20-25, 17-25, 19-25). Both of these teams were some of the toughest competition the men in black and gold had faced all season. This season alone, Wentworth had defeated such teams as #14 Arcadia University and battled top-20 teams Rivier College and Juniata College in five-set matches, while JWU toppled Baruch College in straight sets.

Medgar opened up a quick 6-3 lead in the first set, boosted by three Nius St. Clair kills. The Leopards responded with a 13-4 run to take a 16-10 lead and held off the Cougars for the rest of the set.

The second set was a similar story, with the Cougars taking an 8-6 lead before Wentworth equalized at 11-11. The teams alternated points until it was 14-15 Wentworth, and the Leopards scored the next five points to build a six-point advantage which the Cougars could not recover from.

The third set was extremely competitive as well, with MEC trailing 20-19 late, at which point WIT scored five points in a row to push the score to 24-19, and the Leopards eventually closed out the match.

St. Clair led all players with 15 kills and added five digs, two blocks, and a .333 hitting %, while Kareem Cyrus and Romell Carter contributed 15 and 13 kills, respectively. Enmanuel Jaquez totaled nine kills and five digs, while Cody Ramsey chipped in four kills, an ace, and a team-high six digs.

The JWU match could hardly have gotten off to a worse start for MEC as the Cougars quickly trailed 6-1, before battling back to make the score 7-6 Wildcats. The Cougar deficit hovered around one or two points before JWU used a 6-3 run to push the score to 19-14. Kills from St. Clais, Ramsey and Jaquez helped cut the deficit to just 20-18, but JWU finished off the set with a 5-2 run. 

The second set had a particularly disappointing conclusion for the Cougars, as they allowed the hosts to score eight points in a row to close out the second set when the score had been tied at 17, missing an excellent chance to even the match at one set apiece. In the final set, JWU jumped out to a 20-9 lead. The Cougars showed their fight by battling back to make the score 23-19, but the Wildcats closed the match out.

St. Clair again posted a match-high total of 16 kills while adding three digs, two blocks, one ace, and a .429 hitting %, while Cyrus contributed 15 assists. Ramsey totaled eight kills in addition to high team-best nine digs.

The Cougars return to action on Tuesday, March 26, for a home CUNYAC contest against CCNY at the Cougars Cave at 7 pm.