Men’s Volleyball opens conference play with tough loss to St. Vincent

LATROBE, Pa. --- Carlow University men's volleyball opened Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference action with a 3-0 loss to St. Vincent College on the road Tuesday.

Russ Cyprowski led Carlow with a game-high, double-double 13 kills and 11 digs, followed by Will Piccolino who also tallied a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs. Ryan Callahan served three of Carlow's four aces on the night, and Jame Stone recorded 24 assists.

The Celtics (0-5, 0-1 AMCC) kept it close through the beginning of the first set, tying the score and taking a marginal lead several times to start.

With the game tied at 11, the Bearcats (4-4,1-0 AMCC) served an ace and took advantage of several Carlow errors to gain a 16-11 lead. A 5-2 run following a Carlow timeout allowed St. Vincent to extend its lead to seven en route to a 25-18 win.

The Celtics fared better in the second set, forcing the game to a win-by-two situation. Once again, both teams tied the score several times to begin the set. Tied at 12-all, Carlow outscored the Bearcats 9-6 to lead, 21-18. A kill from Piccolino put the Celtics up 23-20, but three St. Vincent kills in a row tied the game at 23. Piccolino landed another kill, but a subsequent service error tied the game again at 24-all. Cyprowski swung on a kill, giving the Celtics the set-point advantage at 25-24. The Bearcats called a timeout and came out of the break with a kill of their own to tie the game at 25. Both teams committed several errors, and each landed a kill to put the game at 28-all, but two costly errors from the Celtics handed the game to the Bearcats, 30-28.

St. Vincent allowed the Celtics just three kills total, dominating the third set, 25-13.

The Bearcats hit .287 on the night and recorded 45 kills to Carlow's 28.

Shawn McSwiggen led St. Vincent with 12 kills, and Matthew Minkin added 10. Matthew Klasnic and Zach Wyant combined for 28 digs.

The Celtics head up Fifth Ave. for a tri-match at Chatham University Saturday.