CHESTER, Pa.– In a critical late-season Middle Atlantic Conference match, Eastern University Men's Volleyball dropped a four-set decision at Widener. The Eagles (15-11, 2-4) rallied from down to win the opening set but were unable to find similar magic int he final three frames.
Kaodi Wokocha had 12 kills and
Symir Byrd had 11.
Widener built a 19-14 lead in the opener before the Eagles started to gain ground with
Ronan Landis serving. Eventually,
Josiah Cash pounded out a huge kill to tie the set at 23. The Pride (12-13, 1-5) scored on a kill from Matthew Christ to lead 24-23. Wokocha saved the set point with a kill, and then hammered an ace to put Eastern up 25-24. The two teams traded sideouts before Cash put an aggressive serve in play and picked up a dig in transition to set up a
Max Bagileo kill for a 27-25 win.
Eastern hit .216 with only three service errors in the first set.
In the second set, the hosts jumped to an early lead and never looked back on the way to a 25-16 Widener win. The Eagles had six serving errors and struggled to get in any kind of offense in a lackluster response to a switch in gears from the hosts. Widener had seven service errors int he set, but they were successful on 15-of-17 sideout chances.
Neither team led by more than two at any point in the second. The Eagles tied the set at 23 on a kill from
Connor Tucholski before the Pride scored the final two points of the set. Both teams had an ace and four service errors in the third, but Widener offense was just enough better to push them to the win.
The Pride seemed to gain confidence and energy from the third and built a big early lead in the fourth. The Eagles could not serve aggressively enough to drive Widener out of system without missing the court. The Pride went 13-of-15 on sideout chances.
The loss drops the Eagles into a precarious spot in the standings with two games left. The Eagles will play Stevenson (4-2) and Arcadia (3-3) in the final two matches. Arcadia currently sits in the fourth spot in the league standings with a match against Messiah and a match at Eastern. If Eastern and Messiah beat Arcadia, the Eagles would sit in at least a tie with the Knights, but if Eastern does not beat Stevenson, Widener could create a three-way tie with wins over Hood and King's.
Eastern will play at Stevenson this Saturday.
