ASTON, Pa.–Eastern University Men's Volleyball earned a pair of wins at Neumann University. The Eagles earned a three set win over the host Knights to start the day and came back on short rest to beat the College of Saint Elizabeth's Eagles (4-2) in four sets.
Foster Lobb delivered 32 kills in the two matches and
Samuel Christie finished with 12 blocks.
How It Happened:
Eastern (2-2) struggled in the service game against the Knights (1-4). Even with five service errors in the opneing set the Eagles were able to pull away to a 25-22 win to grab the early edge. The two sides were tied at 18-18 in the second set before the Eagles reeled off seven of the final eight points in the set for a 25-19 win.
Kiriam Yordan served for three points and
Darren Lopez served for two. Lobb and
Noah Westbrook each had kills in the final three points to close out the set. Eastern hit .259 in the second set.
With the Knights playing solid defense on the ground, the Eagles needed extra points to decide the final set. Neumann held a 24-23 lead, but the Eagles were able to earn the sideout and score two with Christie at the service line. Lopez delivered the final kill for the 26-24 win. Westbrook had eight kills and ten digs and Lobb had nine kills. Lopez had seven kills and
Justin Flor had 26 assists.
Not feeling great about their level of play in the morning match, the Eagles had a half hour to recover before taking on Saint Elizabeth's. The squad from New Jersey came in with fresh legs and a deep and vocal bench.
After falling behind 6-1 in the opening set, the Eagles fought back with Westbrook at the service line. As would be a pattern for the match, Lobb was able to terminate points in the four-point run with a variety of shots. The rookie outside hitter notched 23 kills and hit .313 in the four-set match.
The Eastern Eagles took their first lead of the match at 9-8 on a big block from Lopez and Yordan. The game remained tight and Saint Elizabeth's held a 16-15 lead when Westbrook hit a corner with a kill and went back to the service line. He served for five points in a row to give the Eagles control of the set at 21-16. The Eagles wearing blue closed the gap to 24-23 before Lopez ended the set with his thrid kill of the day.
The Eastern attack was at its best in the second set. The Eagles put down 12 kills with only two errors for a .385 hitting percentage. With both Lobb and Lopez pounding out four kills, Eastern took a two-set lead with a 25-20 win.
The fourth set went back-and fourth. Eastern fought off two set points, but Saint Elizabeth's forced a fourth set with a 26-24 win.
After falling behind in the final set, the Eagles rallied back and grabbed command of the match on a pair of service points from Yordan. Christie put the Eagles up 13-10 with a huge solo block in the middle of the court. After a Saint Elizabeth's sideout, the Eastern Eagles responded with a Lobb kill and scoring play on an inside combination with Flor and Christie.
The four-point lead proved to be enough as Eastern pulled away to a 25-19 win the fourth.
Lopez finished with 15 kills. Christie had seven kills with no errors.
Trey Miller and Westbrook each had 11 digs. Flor notched 42 assists.
Up Next:
The Eagles start the MAC season with a home match against the King's College Monarchs on Wednesday. Their new program is off to a 5-0 start. They opened the year with a five-set win over Saint Elizabeth's in mid-January.
