St. DAVIDS, Pa.– On a night when the program honored its first four-year player, Eastern University Men's Volleyball dropped a three-set decision to the visiting Stevenson University Mustangs. The short-handed Eagles hit a solid .159 for the match, but the visiting Mustangs hit .321 as a group to earn the win and clinch a spot in the upcoming MAC Men's Volleyball Tournament. Rodney Quarles led the Eagles with eight kills and Max Bagileo hit .385 with seven kills. 

The program honored senior captain Lucas Adam before the match. Though the program is in its sixth year, COVID played havoc with the roster, and Adam is the first player to finish a four year career. With five kills this evening, Adam is 11 short of 500 for his career. He has played in 299 sets and 88 matches. He trails only Foster Lobb in career kills. 

The Mustangs (15-10, 5-3) used a seven-point run with Micah Ernest serving to erase an 8-4 Eastern lead and grab control of the opening set. The Mustangs were successful on eight of their final nine sideout chances to pull away to a 25-17 win in the first set. The Eagles had 11 kills, but the big Stevenson block forced them into six errors, and they hit only .185 in the set.

While the Eagles kept the Mustangs from any big runs in the second set, they were not able to build any runs themselves. The Eagles were within three points at 21-18, but the visitors closed out the set with four of the final five points for a 25-19 win. Adam had four kills to lead the Eastern attack in the second set.

Though the Eagles played right with the Mustangs in the third, they were never able to take a lead in the frame. After the visitors put together a late run to go up six, Adam built a four-point service run to close the gap. His 26th service ace of the year brought the Eagles to within two points, but a Rodney Quarles attack hit just beyond the back line to end the match. 

The Eagles (10-16, 2-5) will close out their year with a pair of matches at Misericordia University on Saturday.