FRANKLIN, MA (February 18, 2022) -- The King's College men's volleyball team won their 10th win of the 2022 season in a convincing fashion on Friday evening, easily handling Dean College, 3-0, in Franklin, Massachusetts. The win on the road begins an eight-game road stretch for the Monarchs, including the first of three this weekend.

King's (10-2, 1-1 MAC) started this matchup strong with an early 8-2 lead in the opening set. Dean (0-7, 0-1 Great Northeast) hung around throughout the set, but the Monarchs were firing on all cylinders early as they won the opening set, 25-13, to set the tone for the match.

Another strong start in the second set saw the Monarchs leading 12-2 off an ace by sophomore Jared Piontkowski, and King's did not allow the hosts to string together more than two consecutive points down the stretch as the Monarchs won the second set, 25-8, to lead the match, 2-0.

After a kill from junior Joe Herman started the final set of the match, the Bulldogs showed some life as they held an early 3-2 lead over the Monarchs. The two teams traded four-point runs before a 9-2 rally from King's separated the road warriors en route to a 25-15 win in the third set to post the 3-0 final in non-conference action.

The Monarchs posted a balanced offensive attack as sophomore Nick Greenawalt led the way with nine kills and added three digs, while Jared Piontkowski totaled seven kills and five blocks. Additionally for the offense, sophomore Peter Scholl added four kills and two blocks, and senior Matt Piontkowski hit a perfect 1.000 off four kills on four attempts in just one set played. Defensively, junior Declan Larson recorded a career-high 11 digs in the win, while first year David Hernandez also added a career-best six digs. Additionally, junior Aziz Atiyeh dished out 20 assists while first year Rich Alvarez totaled three aces.

Dean was led by Aaron Fonseca with three kills, Rodrigo Monteiro totaled six digs, and Tyler Martins tallied six assists in the loss.

As a team, King's totaled a .333 hitting percentage, posting 36 kills on 72 attempts with 34 assists. The defense held the Bulldogs to a -.127 hitting percentage with just 11 kills, while edging out the hosts in aces (15-2) blocks (5-4), and digs (31-21).

King's will be back on the court tomorrow afternoon as they face Emerson College and Regis College in a tri-match hosted by Regis with game times set for 1 pm and 3 pm in Weston, MA.