WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Despite leading after the third set in each of its matches, Eastern Men's Volleyball dropped a pair of five-setters to Wilkes and Nazareth on Sunday at the Marts Center. The Eagles led 2-1 in its first match against the Colonels before losing the final two sets. The Eagles built a 2-0 advantage in its second match, but were eventually reverse swept by the Golden Flyers.
Wilkes took the first set, 25-23, taking advantage of an early run, but the Eagles responded with a 25-20 win in the second set. Trailing 7-6 early, Eastern scored 11 of the next 14 points to turn their deficit into a`17-11 lead.
Colby Arvesen, who finished with a career-high 16 kills, had three during the run. The Colonels got as close as 24-20, but a
Ronan Landis kill, one of his career-best eight, tied the match at one-set apiece.
Eastern took a back-and-forth third set 25-23, hitting a match-high .323 with 11 kills on 31 attempts. With the set tied at 15, the Eagles used a 10-4 run to go up 24-19. Arvesen, Landis
Kaodi Wokocha,
Landon Mattiace, and
Connor Tucholski each had a kill during the scoring surge. Wilkes cut the Eastern lead to 24-23 with four straight points, but a Mattiace kill put the Eagles ahead.
The Eagles were unable to seal the deal as Wilkes won the final two sets. Eastern trailed 24-23 after battling back from a 17-10 deficit, but the Colonels thwarted the Eagles' comeback effort. In the final set, with the match tied at 8-8, Wilkes used a 5-2 run to build a lead it would not relinquish in an eventual 15-12 triumph.
Wokocha finished with 12 kills and
Connor Tucholski collected 10. Landis collected 39 digs to go along with his eight kills.
Symir Byrd led the defensive effort with 18 digs, and first-years Mattiace and
Ian Leeds and finished with a team-high five blocks.
Wokocha played another strong match against Nazareth later in the afternoon, hitting .343 with a season-high 16 kills on 35 swings. He had in the first set against the Golden Flyers as the Eagles picked up a 25-20 win.
Eastern made it a 2-0 lead with a 26-24 win in set two. In a back and forth set, both teams played to a 24-24 tie before back-to-back kills from Arvesen and Wokocha put the Eagles in the drivers seats. Eastern was unable to build on that momentum as the Golden Flyers rallied back to win the final three sets. Eastern recorded just 10 kills after the third set.
Arvesen finished the match with 13 kills, while Tucholski collected eight terminations. Landis and
Josh Hrabosky combined for 35 assists, and Wokocha led the defensive effort with 10 digs.
Eastern (0-3) will be back in action at Penn State Schuylkill Wednesday evening.
