Volleyball Club Remains Undefeated

Despite dropping the opening games of its first two matches, the Volleyball Club continued its undefeated start to the season, defeating Montclair State, Bucknell, and Muhlenberg in a four-team tournament at Muhlenberg last weekend.

Lafayette beat Monclair State three games to two (22-25, 25-16, 27-25, 18-25, 15-12), Bucknell three to two (18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 15-10), and Muhlenberg three to zero (25-15, 25-18, 25-23).

Several players had key performances:

• civil engineering major Kyle DeLabar ’05 (North Catasauqua, Pa.), middle hitter, 30 kills, 15 digs, and six blocks;
• Scott Bortz ’08 (Allentown, Pa.), outside hitter, 19 kills, 17 digs, and five aces;
• mechanical engineering major Doug Fox ’05 (Peace Dale, R.I.), right-side hitter, 12 kills, eight digs, and four blocks;
• Anthony Rucci ’08 (Catasauqua, Pa.), outside hitter, eight kills and four digs;
• biochemistry major Ryan Evans ’05 (Mohrsville, Pa.), setter, eight kills, eight digs, nine blocks, and 120 assists;
• A.B. engineering major Russ Dinardi ’07 (Pleasantville, N.Y.), outside hitter, eight kills and two digs.

“Without our starting outside hitter Wayne Scott ’05 due to a grad school visit, we had some new faces step up and fill in during those big games where we needed more power hitters,” says DeLabar, club president. “Anthony Rucci and Russ Dinardi shared the spot, keeping the position a threat to our opponents.”

DeLabar expects a close match when the team hosts Lehigh 11 a.m. Sunday. The Leopards again will miss a key player as Evans visits a graduate school.

“We have a lot to work on at practice this week to try to fill such an crucial position,” DeLabar says.

Season-opening report