The Elizabethtown College men’s volleyball team fell short to Alvernia University in Reading, PA, Thursday, Feb. 7. The team struggled to keep up with the Golden Wolves as each set got further and farther away from the Jays.
Although the blue and gray held a lead of a point in each of the games, those leads were swiftly stolen by the opponent.
The first set was filled with action as both teams but up several ties, 11 throughout the set itself. Etown earned a 4-2 lead to start off, but toward the end the Wolves had six straight points, overcoming the Jays’ lead at that point.
During this first matchup, junior Nick Baxter held a pair of kills as did senior teammate Ethan Maurer. Going into the second set, the Jays held a 7-1 lead, eventually forcing Alvernia into a timeout.
As the opponent regained strength, the score evened out and felt very much like the first. First-year Tim Zieber did a phenomenal job setting Maurer up for a kill to tie it at 18-18, but shortly after, the Wolves earned seven straight points and took a 2-0 set lead.
For the third set, Etown came out strong again, but it didn’t take long for the pattern to reoccur and for the opponent to take control.
At 25-14 the last game ended and Alvernia took the sweep. Although this was a tough loss for the Jays, they did manage to earn 30 kills and six blocks.
The men also faced Kean University and Misericordia University at home, but did not find much more success than with Alvernia.
Their first home match of the season was filled with effort as the Jays found themselves starting behind in every set against both teams in the tri-match, but they fought hard to make their opponents work for the win.
Against Kean, the blue and gray had many good kills, especially those by Zieber. But it just wasn’t enough to take the win, as Kean and Misericordia swept them along.
Baxter and Maurer showed up against Misericordia, but as the sets became closer and closer, the pressure eventually broke down the Jays and their offense.
A few close calls were put in place as Misericordia had five attacking fouls, but even this could not give Jays enough of a lead to win.
The men will host Eastern Mennonite University Friday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.
