ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Playing at the NEST for the first time in over a month, Eastern Men's Volleyball battled valiantly against MAC rival Stevenson. However, a stout Mustangs' attack proved to be the difference as the Eagles fell in straight sets (22-25, 24-25, 15-25). The Mustangs hit .321 for the match, .444 in the final set, and finished with 11 total blocks.
Despite the defeat, the Eagles finished with 38 kills, one more than the visiting Mustangs. Justin Flor continued his recent strong play, recording a career-high 18 terminations and just five errors in 33 swings. The Quakertown, Pa. native now has double-digit kills in three of Eastern's last four matches.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair in the early stages with the Mustangs building a 7-6 lead, but an 11-3 run for the visitors increased their advantage to 18-9. The Eagles countered with a 9-5 surge, which included four Stevenson attack errors, to make it 22-18, before kills from Foster Lobb and Rodney Quarles cut the advantage to 24-22. However, the Mustangs were able to hang on, winning the first set by three.
Eastern played its best volleyball in the second set, hitting .231 as a team. Four kills by Flor in the early going helped the Eagles take an 8-7 lead, before three kills and a service by Lobb in a 7-5 Eastern run increased the advantage to 15-12. The Eagles built their biggest lead of the set at 19-15, but the Mustangs came roaring back, outscoring the Eagles 11-5 to win the extended set.
The Eagles looked to take a 25-24 lead on a ball that looked to go out of bounds, but the call, and point, were reversed, giving Stevenson the one-point lead. The Mustangs went on to score the next point to take the two-set-to-none advantage. Eastern's momentum waned in the third set as the Mustangs scored four of the first five points and held on to their lead the rest of the way.
Lobb was second on the Eagles with nine kills, while Quarles finished with six and Max Bagileo collected four on seven swings. Chris Miller orchestrated the offense with 28 assists, and Lobb led the defensive effort with 10 digs.
"We are showing signs of progress," Eastern Head Coach Randy Syracuse said. "We played even with one of the best teams in the conference for most of the match but their size and a little more experience ended up being the difference in the match. The team worked very hard during their Spring Break to be ready for today's match. We saw great things from Rodney, Chris had his best setting outing, and Justin proved once again he is a force to be reckoned with in the conference."
Eastern will be back in action on Wednesday, hosting MAC rival Alvernia at the NEST. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
