NEW YORK CITY - In its final non-conference tri-match of the season, Eastern Men's Volleyball picked up a pair of wins in the Big Apple. The Eagles bounced back from a first-set defeat to beat Drew 3-1 (23-25, 28-26, 25-20, 25-20), before sweeping host Lehman in straight sets (25-18, 25-18, 25-19).
Josiah Cash had a tremendous afternoon offensively with 34 combined terminations in the two matches.
After dropping the first set to Drew in the opener, the Eagles grinded out a hard-fought, 28-26 victory in the second set. Eastern got out to an early 6-4 lead, before the Rangers responded with a 5-0 run to go up 9-6. Eastern countered with a 7-2 surge, with three kills from
Josiah Cash, to go up 14-12, before Drew tied it back up again at 14-14.
Lucas Adam notched two kills to help the Eagles go up 18-14, but Drew continued to hang around, locking the match up at 25-25. However, the Eagles scored three of the final four points to tie the contest at one set apiece.
The third set was close to start as both teams played to a 16-16 tie, but the Eagles ripped off a 9-4 run to close the set and take a 2-1 lead. Cash recorded four kills in the run, while Adam and
Max Bagileo each added one. The Rangers grabbed an early 3-1 lead in the final set, but an 8-3 run by the Eagles gave the lead for good en route to a 25-20 victory.
Adam was second on the Eagles with 15 kills, while Bagileo finished with eight. Adams also finished with a team-high three aces, while Cash led the way with three blocks.
Chris Miller orchestrated the offense with 40 assists and
Andres Suarez Batista led the defensive effort with 11 digs.
Eastern's offense really found its rhythm against Lehman with 52 kills in 86 swings, good for a season-high .477 attack percentage. The Eagles hit .536 in the first set (19 kills on 28 attacks) and a whopping .609 in the third set (15 kills on 23 attacks). Cash finished with another 17 kills, while Bagileo collected 14 and Adam nine. Miller dished out 45 assists, while
Max Bushong led the defense with eight digs.
The two teams played to a 10-10 tie in set one, before three straight kills from Bagileo and another from Adam put the Eagles ahead 14-10. The Eagles led the rest of the way as Cash, Adam, and
Tiger Winston combined for six kills to help Eastern secure a 25-18 triumph.
Lehman grabbed an early 8-7 advantage in set two, before Eastern used a 5-1 surge to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Lightning were able to tie the set at 14-14, but kills from Suarez-Batista and Cash put the Eagle ahead 18-14. The Eagles scored seven of the final 11 points to go up two sets to none.
Lehman scored the first four points of the third set, but Eastern responded with four straight points of its own, three on kills from Bagileo, to tie it up 4-4. The Eagles used a 9-3 to go ahead 13-7, and never trailed by more than four points the rest of the way.
After a lengthy time away, the Eagles (9-11, 1-4) return to the NEST on Wednesday for a MAC showdown with Widener. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
