CHESTER, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Volleyball needed extra points in the fourth set, but the Eagles battled to a 32-30 win to earn the program's first league win with a four-set victory at Widener University. Cameron Parsons finished with a career-high 44 assists and 13 digs. The first-year setter also pounded out seven kills on only nine attacks.

How It Happened: 
Eastern held a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set and built a 20-17 on the strength of a 5-to-2 run. Parsons had an unbelievable pancake dig to keep a pint alive on an extended rally to go up 19-16. That three point lead, however, was short-lived. The Pride took advantage of Eastern miscues to score five points in a row to grab a 22-20 lead. 

After a Widener service error, Parsons terminated a point on a quick dump off a Bruno Vargas pass to tie the match at 22-22, but with the Eagles serving, the Pride still had the advantage of going to set-point on every side-out. The teams traded service errors all the way to 24-23.

At that point the Eagles had to fight off set points. Nicholas Hulbert put down a kill to extend the match, but the Pride earned a side-out for a second set-point. Noah Westbrook delivered the kill to tie the score at 25-25. The Pride were able to handle a tough Darren Lopez jump serve and side-out for a third set point. On this one, Anthony Smith terminated the point after another extended rally. Parsons had the assist on the play, and he had another spectacular pancake dig early in the rally. 

Finally, the Eagles were able to score on serve with Noah Westbrook at the line. An attack error after another extended rally  gave the Eagles a chance to serve for the match. Widener took a  timeout. Hulbert had a swing for the match, but his attack narrowly missed the back corner. Another Eastern hitting error gave the Pride another set point at 28-27. 

The Eastern serve receive correctly judged a float serve as deep, and that fourth set-point was fought off. Widener again earned the side-out and had a fifth opportunity to serve for the set, but Hulbert put down the kill for the side-out. Parsons then put the Eagles up 30-29 on an overpass. The two teams traded side-outs before Gabe Perez earned the final point of the match with an aggressive serve. 

The Eagles (5-4, 1-4 MAC) hit .203 in the match. Led by Hulbert with 16 kills and Lopez and Smith with 11, the Eagles pounded out 57 kills to only 37 for the Pride. The troubles came with errors. The Eagles had 30 attack errors and 19 service errors 

The excessive errors made a difference in the second set. After the Eagles pulled away to a 25-22 win in the opening set, they had 11 attack errors, three service errors, and a bad set in losing the second set 25-19. The Pride scored the final three points of the set on hitting errors. 

The eagles worked through those errors and bounced back with an impressive 13 kills on only 19 swings to win 25-16 in the third. Lopez pounded out five kills on seven swings, and both Perez and Hulbert were perfect in the set and Parsons had 12 assists. The Eagles were able to side-out at 76% on the way to claiming the set. 

The momentum of the third did not carry over into the fourth, and the Eagles trailed 11-7 before scoring six of the next seven points to grab a 13-12 lead. Parsons had four kills, 11 assists and six digs in the final set. Smith and Hulbert also delivered four kills in the frame. Smith hit .444 with no errors.

Perez had eight kills and two blocks in just his third match since the basketball season ended. Vargas had nine digs and four assists in his first action of the year.

Coach Syracuse Says:
"We had another line-up change tonight, and there were times where we struggled a little bit with rhythm and timing. As the libero, Bruno brings a great energy to the court. It was great to have his heart out there leading."

"Anthony and Gabe were efficient in terminating points when they had the chance. Anthony really came up big for us in the fourth set."

"We need to stay aggressive serving, but we need to work to limit service errors. We gave them far too many points tonight. I believe that with our new line-up that we can be a better blocking team than we are right now. We will work for that as well."

Up Next:
The Eagles have a very short turn-around. They will play at Wilkes tomorrow night. The Colonels are 7-7 and 2-3 in the MAC.