Harrisonburg, VA - The Mustangs traveled to Eastern Mennonite
University to play the top three teams from the NECVA West
(Northern Division) for the NECVA WEST crossover this weekend. The
Mustangs needed to win at least two matches to make it into the
NECVA championships next week.
In the first match on Friday, the Mustangs took on powerhouse
Nazareth and lost 3-1. The Golden Flyers are a top ten team
and showed why they are highly rergarded. JR
Jackson (17-6-35) hit over 300 and Ryan
McDowell (5-0-8) hit 625 to lead the offense.
Anthony Cammarata shared the setting duties and
led the defense with 7 of the teams 35 digs.
In the first match on Saturday, the Mustangs played probably the
poorest game of the weekend agasint Dyouville and lost in three
straight. Errors in blocking, serving and hitting were the story in
the loss. Defensively, the Mustangs put together 11 blocks and 39
digs in the three games but the offense was simply not potent
enough.
In the last match of the tournament, Medaille beat the scrappy
Mustangs in 4 close games (28-30,30-27,27-30,23-30).
Anthony Cammarata had 40 assists in the effort as
well as 8 digs. Ryan McDowell hit 500 against a
very good Medaille team with 8 kills, 2 errors and 12 attempts.
JR Jackson had 18 kills and David Lloyd had 12.
The Mustangs again played well defensively with 8 blocks and 56
digs.
The final record for the Mustangs was 15-17 with only one loss
to teams that were not ranked in the top 15 at some point during
the year. Alex Ness's leadership will be greatly
missed due to his graduation in the Fall next year. Alex has been
almost solely responsible for pushing Villa Julie's defense to be
one of the best in the NECVA due to his hustle and athleticism.
Ness posted 24 digs against New Jersey City earlier in the year and
led the Mustangs to their first win over a DII program earlier this
year against King College. Alex, a 6'2" middle has been successful
on offense as well while seeing a different setter for each of his
four years. With the exception of Ness, the Mustangs will return 10
players which should bode well for the 2008-2009 team.
