ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Playing fora. second-consecutive night, Eastern University Men's Volleyball boosted its level for a tough test against the sixth-ranked and MAC-leading Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks. The Eagles (15-10, 2-3) won the third set, 26-24, to extend the match, but the visiting Ducks hit .429 in the fourth set to claim the win. Kaodi Wokocha hit .333 and posted a match-high 15 kills to lead the Eastern offense.

Stevens (20-4, 6-0) also played last night. While Eastern beat Hood College in three, the Ducks battled to a marathon four-set win at Messiah University. With the effort required to top the seventh-ranked Falcons, Stevens elected to rest a few regulars, but the group they did put on the floor was still a very deep and talented.

In each of the first two sets, the Eagles were within a point at 15-14, but the visitors found separation and closed out both. Stevens won the first, 25-19, and the second 25-18.

Even dropping those sets, the Eagles showed a much better level than what they produced the night before. The serve receive group of Wokacha, Symir Byrd, and Max Bushong gave the home team chances to attack. Eastern hit .292 in the first set and a reasonable .206 in the second. While the Eagles did well in their passing, the Ducks were more efficient. They were successful on 27-of-38 sideout chances through the first two sets.

The Eagles also trailed 15-14 in the fourth, but Josh Hrabosky served for a point as Wokocha put down a kill in transition from Max Bagileo to tie the score at 15-15. With both teams finding success with their passing the set went point-for-point all the way to 24-24. Wokocha put the Eagles up 25-24 with big swing for a sideout. The first-year standout then delivered a big serve that put the Ducks out of system for an attack error.

Wokocha had eight kills on 12 swings in the fourth set, and the Eagles were successful on 18-of-25 serve-receive opportunities.  Ronan Landis had 11 assists and the Eagles hit .467 in the set.

Stevens looked to be the fresher team in the fourth. The Ducks finished the frame with a 17-to-4 edge in kills and won 25-13.

It is the first time in program history that the Eagles have taken a set off the perennial power.  Stevens won the 2023 National Championship and is 118-13 over the past four seasons.

Connor Tucholski had eight kills, and Byrd had seven kills, seven digs , and two aces. Wokocha now holds the program single-season record with 264 kills. He added six digs and a couple blocks while also receiving 33 serves. Landis finished with 26 assists. Carver Weirick had 13 kills and Ryan Schmid had 12 kills to lead the Ducks. 

The Eagles will look to add to their program-record win total when they travel to Widener next Wednesday. The top five teams qualify for the 2025 MAC Championships. The two teams in front of the Eagles in the standings, Stevenson and Arcadia, are the final two games on Eastern's schedule. Arcadia is 2-2 in the league and has lost to Stevenson and Stevens and has matches with Messiah and Misericordia before playing at Eastern on April 2. Stevenson has lost to Messiah and Stevens and will finish with Eastern and Misericordia.