GRANTHAM, Pa– Eastern University Men's Volleyball pushed the league-leading Messiah College Falcons to four sets in a pair of road losses today. The Eagles had a serve for the fourth set in the second match, but the Falcons fought off the set point and merged with a 30-28 win to claim the day.
After dropping the first two sets of the day to the Falcons (11-1), the Eagles hit an impressive .429 in the third set to win 25-22 and force a fourth set in the opener. The Falcons played a nearly flawless fourth set to emerge with the first match.
The Eagles scuffled out of the gate in the second match and dropped the opening set 25-9.
From that point on, the match was a back-and-forth affair. The Falcons grabbed a 2-0 lead with a 25-22 win in the second set, but the Eagles matched that win with a 25-21 win in the third set.
Eastern had a couple chances to claim the fourth set, but three kills from Messiah's Mason Nissley earned the Falcons the 30-28 win. The Eagles held a 22-15 lead in the set before the Falcons rolled off seven points in a row to tie the set at 22. The Eagles earned the next two points, but a service error and a Messiah point tied the set at 24. The two teams traded sideouts all the way to 28-28.
Foster Lobb led the Eagles with 16 kills and six digs in the second match. He hit .464. The Falcons had a 9-3 advantage on blocks in the second match.
Darren Lopez led the Eagles with 10 kills in the first match.
Ben Sierer recorded six kills on 14 swings and
Justin Flor put down seven kills on 12 attacks.
" On paper, it should have been a quick match," Head Coach
Randy Syracuse said. "It took a little bit to blow off the bus trip rust but when we did the match was very entertaining. I tweaked the lineup after the first match to one closer to the one we had success with last season, and it resulted in a slow start to second match but eventually turned into solid performances by Darren and Foster.
"The insertion of Sam Christie into the lineup," Syracuse continued, "solidified the block and allowed us to transition more effectively as we won the third set of the second match and took a commanding lead in the 4th. I am very proud of our guys who showed once again they don't care who we play. We will give them everything we have."
The Eagles host Wilkes at 7:00 pm on Wednesday.
