CHESTER, Pa.– Forced to make yet another line-up adjustment, Eastern University Men's Volleyball found a way to earn a four-set win and claim the season series against Widener. With the win, the Eagles will advance to the finals of the MAC Consolation Tournament at Misericordia on Saturday.
Trey Miller finished with a 22-dig effort and helped the Eagles limit the Pride to only three aces in the match.
With junior outside hitter
Darren Lopez unavailable for the match, Head Coach
Randy Syracuse turned to
Jeremiah Pha to take on a new role. The 5'6 defensive specialist spent time setting earlier in the season, but today, the team needed him to hit and block. Pha wound up matched up against players nearly a foot taller, but he was able to finish with five kills, 12 digs, five assists, and was 25-for-26 in serve receive.
Head Coach
Randy Syracuse pointed to the energy and enthusiasm that Pha added to the match as critical to the team's success.
As often happens, the match hit a turning point late in the third set. The Eagles had won the first and dropped the second. With the previous two matches between the two squads going to five sets, it was not surprising that the match would be tight. The Eagles trailed 20-19 but scored two straight points on attack errors to lead 21-20. With Pha serving, it seemed the Pride were set to sideout when they got a middle isolated against a single blocker.
Gabe Perez, Eastern's lone senior, had a different plan. he delivered a solo block to give the Eagles a two-point edge and significant momentum. The Pride had another shot to side-out that Miller somehow kept alive with a sprawling dig. The point went Eastern's way on a ball out of play by the Pride. Not to be outdone, Perez delivered another solo block for a 24-20 lead before
Lucas Adam pounded out a kill to give the Eagles the important third set.
After successfully earning sideout points on 83 percent of Widener's serves in the first set to win 25-17, the Eagles returned to more average numbers in and needed to earn points on serve in the following sets. Adam and
Justin Flor both had strong nights earning points at the service line for the Eagles. Both served six times in the final set. Flor had two aces and Adam had one.
The Eagles earned a sideout on a Lobb kill to tie the fourth set at 12-12 and seemed to have a decisive four-point run. Lobb sparked the burst with a solo block on an attempted dump by the Widener setter. Flor pounded out a kill in transition and Adam delivered an ace for a 15-12 lead. The Eastern lead grew to 21-17 on back-to-back aces from Flor, but the Pride clawed back to 23-23 with back-to-back stuff blocks late.
Syracuse kept his timeouts in his bag and let his team adjust. The Eagles earned the sideout with a big kill from Lobb and closed out the match with a rally with Perez at the service line. With Miller off the court, the Eagles needed a good defensive coverage from everyone, and Perez kept the rally going with a solid dig that enable Flor to find Adam for the match.
Flor finished with five aces and 35 assists. Adam had 13 kills and two blocks.
"The guys again showed their heart and drive," Syracuse said. "Jeremiah earns Sweater-Vest-Player-of-the-Day honors in his first action as a six-rotation hitter.
Josiah Cash was there with the guys all night and very vocal despite not being on the court. The team is looking forward to going back up to Misericordia."
The Eagles will play a single match at Misericordia on Saturday.
