ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Volleyball dropped a five-set heartbreaker to the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves. Justin Flor led the Eagles with a career-best 22 kills and Foster Lobb added 21.

After dropping the first set 28-26, the Eagles won the next two sets by identical 25-21 scores. The Golden Wolves tied the score with a 25-17 win in the fourth to force a fifth set. 

The Eagles established a two-point edge at 8-6 in the final set and reestablished that lead at 11-9 on a sideout kill from Lobb and an out-of-system kill from Flor. The two teams traded sideouts all the way to 14-13, and the Eagles had a serve for the match with Flor at the service line. The senior opposite drilled a jump serve that came back over the net on the first Alvernia touch. While the ball came over without being attacked, the Eagles still had to scramble to get the first touch. The Golden Wolves took advantage and set up a big block against the Rodney Quarles on the antenae to tie the score at 14-14. Lobb had five kills on six swings in the fifth set, but he was in the back row as Alvernia put down the final two points to win 16-14.

The first set featured four lead changes and ten ties, and the Eagles had a pair of set points. They went up 24-23 on an ace from Andres Suarez and 25-24 on a kill from Flor. The Eagles had to fight off a set point at 26-25, but the Golden Wolves eventually secured the set. Eastern hit .355 in the first set. Flor put down eight balls without an error to pace the Eagles early. Alvernia hit .367 with one less kill and one fewer error.

Eastern (4-7, 1-3) jumped to an 8-2 lead in the second set and held the lead on the way to a 25-21 win. The Eastern advantage grew to 21-14 on a Lobb kill. Though Alvernia seemed to gain momentum late, the Eagles closed out the set on another Lobb termination. The Eagles hit .394 in the second set.

When the Golden Wolves (9-6, 4-2) scored to tie the third set at 20-20, it was the eleventh tie of that critical frame. Eastern earned a sideout on a kill from Flor and went up two when Quarles and Ben Sierer combined on a block. Suarez delivered an ace for a 23-20 lead. The Golden Wolves earned a sideout before the Eagles scrambled on a lengthy and heroic rally to claim a point to go up 24-21. Flor, who finished the match with four aces, delivered a critical bomb for the 25th point of the third.

Alvernia controlled the fourth set from the start and tied the match at two sets apiece. The Eagles trailed 24-12 but closed the gap and built a little momentum for the fifth set with Chris Miller at the service line. Chris Miller finished with 47 assists and a match-best 14 digs.

"This was a tough one," Head Coach Randy Syracuse said after the match. "[This was] Another night where we played well enough to win but in the end fell just short. I am very happy with the way our team toughed it out against  last year's fourth place team and a team that has been playing well this year. Justin and Foster were tremendous offensively tonight. Justin's drive and leadership were on full display. Chris Miller is making more and more decisions that put our attackers in a place to succeed.  The team will learn from this and be able to fix some of the things that went wrong at the wrong times. It's a journey.  Tonight was another forward step."

Trey Miller finished with nine digs. He and Quarles combined to receive sixty Alvernia serves with only three errors. 

Eastern will play at Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night and will host American International College on Saturday.