The nationally-ranked Misericordia University men's volleyball team opened the season with a split at the SUNY-Poly Invitational, Saturday in Utica, NY.

The #14 Cougars beat Buffalo State, 3-1, in the opener, but dropped a 3-1 decision to #19 Lasell in the nightcap.

Jared Piontkowski led the Cougars with 18 kills in the opener while Anthony DePalma added 12 kills and five aces.

Thomas Young had eight kills, three aces and eight digs in his Misericordia debut Gannon DeFrain had 37 assists.  Benjamin Clendening had four blocks and Joe Kozak and DeFrain added three each.

Young had 12 kills against Lasell while DePalma had 10 kills and three aces.  Piontkowski had eight kills, five blocks and three aces and Clendening had six blocks and Kozak had four.

The Cougars won the opener 25-11, 26-28, 25-23, 25-17.

MU jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opener on kills by Clendening and Piontkowski and never trailed.

Piontkowski had back-to-back kills to start a 9-0 run as the Cougars took a 24-10 lead.

MU took a 25-24 lead on Matt Albrecht's kill in the second set, but Buffalo State scored four of the next points to win 28-26.

Misericordia scored five straight points to take a 7-2 lead and held off a late Buffalo State rally to win the third set, 25-23.

Young had a kill and two aces to fuel an 8-1 run that gave the Cougars a 15-9 lead in the finale.

In the nightcap, Lasell jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never trailed in the opener. The Cougars used an 8-3 spurt to get within 19-17, but Lasell closed on a 6-3 run.

Clendening had a kill and teamed with Piontkowski on a block as MU pulled within 24-23 in the second set, but Lasell held on for a 25-23 win.

Piontkowski had back-to-back aces to give MU a 9-7 lead and the Cougars led the rest of the way to win the third set, 25-20.

Lasell took a quick 8-2 lead on the way to a 25-16 win in the finale.