GLENSIDE, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Volleyball came into tonight's MAC opener at Arcadia leading the nation in hitting percentage. While that number certainly dropped in a four-set loss to one of the league favorites, the Eagles showed promise with a 25-23 win in the third set to extend the match.
Darren Lopez finished with a match-high 13 kills.
How It Happened:
Eastern built a 6-3 lead in the opening set and the two teams exchanged points all the way up to 16-16. The Knights (12-4, 1-0 MAC) service game then pushed the home team ahead. While they did not have any aces in the run, the strong and well-located serves put pressure on the Eastern attack and the Knights closed out the set with five points in serve in the final 12 points of the set.
Arcadia hit .478 in winning the set 25-19. The Eagles fell behind early in the second set and the Knights pulled away to a 25-13 win in that frame. Arcadia's Quinn Bailey served six aces in a mid-set run.
The Eagles gave the Knights a little of their own medicine in the third set. Lopez went back to the service line with his team trailing 4-3. After a kill by
Christian Knaub, Lopez delivered three-straight aces.
Noah Westbrook and
Kiriam Yordan then combined on a double-block to put the Eagles up 8-4.
The Knights, however, had an answer and earned the points back quickly on the way to a 19-16 lead in the set. Westbrook had a kill for the side-out and Yordan then serve three points in a row to put the Eagles up 20-19.
Anthony Smith had a highlight in the burst with a solo block.
The Eagles scored one more point on serve and held their side-out game together through the end of the set to force a fourth frame with a 25-23 win.
The fourth set started out poorly and did not get much better. The Knights jumped toa 10-2 lead and extended that lead to 23-6 before the Eagles were able to score a couple points on serve.
Lopez hit .308 in the match and
Cameron Parsons finished with 23 assists, six digs, and a pair of blocks, but the Eagles hit a negative number against the big Arcadia block. Austin Braas led the Knights with ten kills on 11 swings.
Coach Syracuse Says:
"Their service game put us under a lot of pressure. We knew coming in that it was going to be different than what we have been seeing, and we will grow from playing against this level. It was great to win the third and extend the match. I would have liked to see us get out to a better start in the fourth set. We have some time to get healthy and ready for Messiah next week."
Up Next:
The Eagles will play at Messiah College (4-3) on Tuesday Feb. 19. The Falcons open MAC play at home on Saturday.
