ELIZABETHTOWN. Pa.– Eastern University Men's Volleyball rallied from down two sets to beat the Drew University Rangers (1-6) in five sets and save split in a long day of volleyball at Elizabethtown College. The Eagles hit .446 an d failed on only seven side-out chances over their final three sets to claim the win.
After playing a tough match late last night and falling to the host Blue Jays in the opener, the Eagles struggled out of the gate against the well-rested Rangers. Drew erased a 21-17 deficit in the opening set to go up a set. The Eagles managed just eleven kills and had ten hitting an d four service errors in the frame.
After finding a little bit of offensive rhythm in a losing cause in the second set, the Eagles jumped to an early lead and raced to a 25-12 win in the third.
Jeremiah Pha was spectacular in the frame. He put away eight kills on only nine swings to lead the Eagles to a stellar .619 hitting percentage in the frame.
Chris Miller had 12 of his 46 assists in the critical third set.
The Rangers kept things a little tighter in the fourth, but
Foster Lobb put away six kills on nine swings to lead Eastern to a 25-15 win. Lobb posted nearly identical numbers in the short fifth set as the Eagles won 15-7. Lobb finished with a match-high 21 kills. Pha had 16 kills and three aces.
Trey Miller,
Bruno Vargas and Miller all finished with double-figure digs.
"We finally seemed to figure some things out by the time the third set rolled around," Head Coach
Randy Syracuse said. " The team rallied around a supreme effort by Jeremiah. He did everything he could in the front and back row to spark the team. He put the entire team on his shoulders long enough for the rest of the team to catch fire.
Lucas Adam played a very complete final 3 sets including several service runs where he put their team under enormous pressure with the jump serve."
Darren Lopez had eight kills and
Josiah Cash had seven in the loss to Elizabethtown. The Eagles had several stretches where they led in sets, but the Elizabethtown block turned momentum with big points in both the second and third sets. Miller had 31 assists in the loss.
Eastern (2-2) is back on the court at nearby Rosemont College on Wednesday evening.
