Men’s Volleyball Falls Short Against No. 1 Springfield

By Ryan Gaydos
@KUTowerSports

No one said it was going to be an easy road through the NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball tournament and for the Kean Cougars, it certainly was not. The Cougars defeated Enidcott in straight sets to get to the No. 1-seeded Springfield team. The Cougars played Springfield tough but ended up losing in three sets; 25-16, 25-22, 25-17.

The Pride had a 23-match winning streak coming in and extended it to 24 with the win and snapped the Cougars’ own 14-match winning streak. Springfield took advantage of a few bad points the Cougars had and controlled the first set for much of the time. The Cougars took the lead for a short while in the second set but dropped it by three points and in the final set, they just ran out of gas.

Senior Steve Vahalla, playing in his final game, recorded 13 kills. On the other side of the net, John Cohen of the Pride recorded 15 kills.

Kean finishes the season with a 26-8 record, a second straight Skyline Conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth as well as a tournament victory. It was a great season for the Cougars, something that should not go unnoticed.

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