ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Volleyball dropped a pair of home matches to MAC-rival Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks. The Eagles scored 21 or more points in five of the six sets, but were unable to take a set off the perennial powers from Hoboken.
Foster Lobb led the Eagles with 20 total kills.
The Eagles (1-6) played point-for point with the Ducks in the opening set, and had a swing for the set drift just wide up 25-24. The next Stevens serve hit the tape and spilled over for an ace, and the Ducks scored a final point on serve to claim a 27-25 win in the opening set. Lobb converted seven of eight swings in the opening set to lead the Eagles.
The second set again saw the two teams contesting many long rallies. The Eagles held a 17-15 edge and were tied at 20, but Stevens rolled through the final five points to claim a 25-20 win. Despite hitting a negative number and having ghe Ducks hit .350, the Eagles contested the third. Consecutive kills from
Lucas Adam and
Justin Flor with Lobb at the service line put the Eagles up 21-20. The Eagles, with a much shorter roster in numbers and height, saw the final set turn on a big block at the net. The Ducks emerged with a 25-22 win.
Stevens had an 11-3 edge in blocks in the match.
Lucas Adam had six kills, and
Darren Lopez, in his first action of the year, had four. Lobb finished with nine kills and 13 digs. Nathan Lancia led the Ducks with 12 kills and 12 digs.
Even after playing against a deeper team for the entire first match, the Eagles brought great energy out in the second. Eastern hit .323 in the first set, but Stevens punded out 15 kills with just three errors and emerged with a 25-22 win. The Eagles again led 18-17 before Stevens put together a late run. Four different Eastern players put down kills in the opening set.
"With Darren back, we went to a different line-up again today," Head Coach
Randy Syracuse said. "I was proud of the way we competed and adapted to having Justin and Jeremiah set. We battled through each point. Even in the second set in the second match, where the score was kind of lopsided, we fought for every point. We had to expend a lot of energy picking up balls and fighting off some big swings, but we won a fair share of those points tonight."
After dropping the second set 25-16, the Eagles played point-for-point again through the early part of the third. The two teams were tied at 17 before Stevens scored four in a row to grab control of the set on the way to a 25-21 win.
"We have to bounce back tomorrow," Coach Syracuse concluded. "We will show the guys some things and do a little work on timing, but we just need to make sure the guys are physically ready to compete against a Widener team that will be well-rested."
Lobb finished the second match with 11 kills and 9 digs. Percy Bickford led Stevens with 13 kills in the second match.
Eastern will host Widener tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. That match was originally slated for a 7:30 start, but has been moved forward to 7:00.
