DALLAS, PA – A kills and assists double-double effort from Daniel Sales (Laflin, Pa./James M. Coughlin) was not enough for the Wilkes University men's volleyball team to complete a comeback at Misericordia University Tuesday night as the Colonels dropped a five-set Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) match 3-2 (26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9).

With the road loss Wilkes dropped to 6-18 overall and to 2-7 in MAC action while Misericordia improved to 12-14 overall and to 3-8 in the conference.

The Colonels built a 6-1 lead in the first set and led 20-16 after a Cole Hefner (East Greenville, Pa./Southern Lehigh) kill but the Cougars rallied for five-straight points to take their first lead at 21-20. Wilkes battled and saved two set points but eventually fell 26-24.

Wilkes again started hot in the second set building a 5-1 lead after a kill by Andrew Potter (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth). Two consecutive service aces by Salvatore Purpura (Plains, Pa./James M. Coughlin) stretched the Colonels lead to 12-5 and Wilkes would not let its lead slip this time. The Colonels closed out the second set with four-straight points including the final two on back-to-back kills by Michael Henne (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) and Sales to win 25-17.

The Cougars built a large lead in the third set but Wilkes closed the gap to just one point at 19-18 after a five-point run that included kills by Dylan Smith (York, Pa./Dallastown), Sales, and Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) and an ace by Brian Schumacher (Fleetwood, Pa./Fleetwood). Misericordia scored six of the next seven point though to take the third set 25-19 and grab a 2-1 lead in the match.

Misericordia jumped ahead 5-2 looking to close the match out in four sets but Wilkes used a four-point run to take its first lead of the set at 7-6 following a block by Hefner and Mensah. Another block by Hefner and Henne stretched the Colonels lead to 12-8 and then Henne and Schumacher combined for a block to provide a 15-9 score line. Wilkes was able to keep a comfortable margin the rest of the set and Sales finished things off with a kill for the 25-21 set win as the match went to a decisive fifth set.

The Cougars grabbed control with a 4-1 lead and after Wilkes scored three of the next four points Misericordia responded with a five-point run to take a stranglehold on the match. The Cougars would finish off the fifth set at 15-9 on Ryan Miller's 19^th kill of the match and take the 3-2 victory.

Sales finished with 10 kills and 22 assists for his fifth double-double of the season and the 12^th of his career. Mensah followed with eight kills and set a career-high with five blocks. Smith, Schumacher, and Hefner all added six kills with Smith tying a season-high with 10 digs and Schumacher tallying his career-high with six digs. Schumacher and Hefner each had four blocks. Henne finished by tying his career-high of 10 digs and set a season-high with three blocks. Kyle Price (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) had nine digs and Purpura finished with 13 assists.

Matt Lavin and Caleb Bauder joined Miller in double-figure kills with 11 each and Bailey Brugler dished out 41 assists for Misericordia.

The Colonels return to the Marts Center for another MAC match on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. when they host Arcadia University.