CHESTER, PA (March 26, 2022) -- In a road tri-match on Saturday afternoon, the King's College men's volleyball team won in straight sets, 3-0, against American International in the opener before falling by a similar score of 3-0 to the host Widener University in their MAC matchup. The Monarchs now stand at 13-11 overall and 2-9 in MAC play heading into the final week of the regular season.

vs. American International - W, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-17):
King's (13-11, 2-9 MAC) got started early as they led American International (2-14) 10-3 in the opening set before posting the 25-14 final.

The second set saw a similar situation as the Monarchs held a 12-5 advantage in the opening possessions that would hold off late comeback efforts by the Yellow Jackets to record a 25-17 win in the second set and take the 2-0 lead in the match. 

American International came out firing in the final set, leading 5-1, but King's scored five unanswered points to take a 6-5 lead. After trading tallies and with the Monarchs behind, 11-9, King's used a 7-0 run to pull ahead and cruise to a 25-17 win in the final set and a 3-0 win in the match.

Sophomore Jared Piontkowski led King's with 12 kills on 22 attempts with just two errors, hitting .455, while junior Joe Herman recorded 11 kills on 18 attempts with one error to hit .556 with five digs and two aces. Junior George Beck tallied 32 assists, while junior Aziz Atiyeh recorded a team-high 12 digs in the win.

The Yellow Jackets were led by John Rivera Ortiz with 12 kills, while Brendan Hickey totaled 24 assists and seven digs.

As a team, the Monarchs hit .321 for the match while holding American International to a .062 hitting percentage. King's also held the advantage in kills (36-28), aces (5-3), assists (34-28), and digs (34-31).

vs. Widener - L, 0-3 (25-19, 25-21, 25-15):
King's stormed out to an early 5-1 lead before Widener (6-12, 2-9 MAC) rallied to tie the set at eight a piece. With the opening set tied at 14, the Pride scored six straight to lead, 20-14, and the Monarchs could not recover as they dropped set one, 25-19.

It was a back-and-forth that saw King's use four consecutive points to take an 11-8 advantage. It was a back-and-forth effort that saw Widener tie the set at 17. After three ties and a lead change with the score at 20 all, the hosts finished set two on a 5-1 rally to post the 25-21 final and lead King's, 2-0.

Widener was in a rhythm in the final set as they led 12-8. Then while King's trailed by just four, 17-13, the Pride rattled off seven consecutive points before handing King's the 25-15 loss in the final set and the 3-0 loss in the match.
Junior Sam Capwell totaled nine kills on 14 attempts, hitting .429, in the loss. Jared Piontkowski added eight kills with four digs and two blocks, while Herman posted six kills and two aces. Beck handed out 17 helpers with five digs, and Atiyeh totaled eight digs.

Widener was led by Declan Quinn and Matthew Christ with 11 kills each, while Alex Arnow recorded eight digs.

King's recorded 25 kills on 21 assists in the loss, adding four aces and 22 digs.

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The Monarchs will wrap up their 2022 regular season this week as they travel to cross-town rival Wilkes on Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. before hosting Misericordia University on Friday, April 1 at 6:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium.