FREDERICK, Md. - Eastern Men's Volleyball picked up its fourth and fifth straight wins on Saturday, sweeping MAC foe Hood before beating the Wilson Phoenix in four sets in its second match of the day.
Kaodi Wokocha finished with 10 kills and the Eagles hit .447 in its three-set win over Hood. Wokocha,
Colby Arvesen, and Connor Tucholoski finished with 15, 12, and 11 kills, respectively, as Eastern rallied back from a first set defeat to win three straight sets and claim its ninth win of the year.
The Eagles finished with a remarkable 40 kills on 76 swings in its win over Hood. After giving up 18 points in the first set, the Eagles gave up just 21 points the rest of the way, including just seven points in the second set. Eastern used six-point and five-point runs in the first to take control, before scoring 22 of the first 27 points in the second set to take a commanding 2-0 lead. Leading 10-9 in the third, the Eagles ended the set on an 11-4 run to win its first MAC match of the season. Wokocha hit .714 for the match, 10 kills on 14 swings, while first-year middle hitter
Trey Broussard finished with six kills and
Landon Mattiace added five.
Ronan Landis led the Eagles with 24 assists and
Symir Byrd led the defensive effort with nine digs.
After dropping the first set to the Phoenix 25-21, the Eagles won the next three sets 25-17, 25-20, and 26-24. After a back and forth beginning in the second set, the Eagles outscored the Phoenix 12-8 to tie the match at 1-1. Eastern grabbed a 15-5 lead in the third set, and held off a late Phoenix rally on a set-ending kill from Arvesen. The latter stages of the fourth set was one of runs. With the Phoenix leading 16-14, the Eagles ripped off five straight points, which included kills from Landis and Arvesen, to go up 19-16. Wilson battled back to take a 21-20 and eventually had set point at 24-23. The Eagles, however, sealed the win with three straight points on three straight kills from Wokocha.
Wokocha hit .414 for the second match, recording his 15 kills on 29 swings, while Tucholski hit .348 from the right side.
Trey Broussard added five kills while Mattiace finished with four. Landis finished with a season-high 47 assists and Byrd finished with 12 digs.
Eastern (9-8) will open its MAC home schedule on Thursday evening against Messiah at 7:00 pm.
