The Misericordia University men's volleyball team split a pair of matches against nationally ranked teams at Vassar, Saturday.
 
The #18 Cougars lost to third-ranked Vassar, 3-0, but a total of six points, and beat #16 Lasell, 3-1.
 
Jared Piontkowski had 13 kills in the opener while Anthony DePalma had 10 kills and three blocks.
 
Gannon DeFrain had 29 assists, Jackson Fehnel added 11 digs and Benjamin Clendening had six blocks.
 
Vassar won, 29-27, 28-26, 25-23.
 
Piontkowski had 28 kills against Lasell as the Cougars won three straight after dropping the opening set.
 
Clendening added nine kills and seven blocks and DePalma had nine kills.
 
The #18 Cougars won 21-25, 25-21, 33-313, 26-24.
 
Against Vassar, MU had the largest lead of the opening set of four points on three occasions and led 25-24 after Thomas Young's kill.
 
Vassar rallied to score five of the next points to win 29-27.
 
Neither team scored more than two straight points in the second set and Vassar scored three of the last four to win 28-26.
 
DePalma's ace gave MU an early 5-0 lead in the third set and the Cougars led throughout much of the set.  Vassar rallied to score seven straight points to take its first lead, 19-16.
 
MU rallied to get within 24-23, but answered with a kill to seal the win.
 
After dropping the opener to Lasell, 25-21, the Cougars rallied to win the second by the same score, 25-21.  Clendening had two kills to break a 17-17 tie and Piontkowski had two kills down the stretch before Young closed the set with a kill.
 
Piontkowski, Joe Kozak, DePalma and Clendening all had kills as the Cougars closed the third set on 4-1 run to win 33-31.
 
After Lasell rallied to take a 22-21 lead in the fourth set, Piontkowski's kill and three Lasell errors keyed a 4-0 for a 26-24 win.