WILKES-BARRE – Seniors Michael Henne (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) and Brian Schumacher (Fleetwood, Pa./Fleetwood) had big nights, along with sophomore Cole Hefner (East Greenville, Pa./Southern Lehigh) who provided stout play at the net with a career-high eight total blocks, as the Wilkes University men's volleyball team closed the inaugural season of Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) competition with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-19) sweep of Widener University on Senior Night at the Marts Center.

Henne tied his career high marks with six kills and 10 digs and Schumacher led the Colonels with eight kills and recorded an impressive .778 hitting percentage in the match.

With the victory Wilkes earned the season sweep over Widener and finished 8-20 overall and 3-9 in the MAC. Widener fell to 3-17 overall and 0-12 in conference matches.

Two kills by Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) provided the Colonels with a lead early in the first set. A five-point run where Hefner and Henne combined for a block, Andrew Potter (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) connected on a service ace and Hefner and Salvatore Purpura (Plains, Pa./James M. Coughlin) combined for another block stretched the lead to 11-4. After Widener closed to within three points at 17-14, Hefner provided a kill to right the ship for Wilkes and Potter slammed a kill to the floor for the final point giving the Colonels a 25-17 victory in set one.

Back-to-back kills by Hefner and Mensah put Wilkes ahead 5-2 early in the second set and a long seven-point run while Joseph Gayton (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) was serving pushed the Colonels lead all the way to 23-9. Two errors by the Pride gave Wilkes the 2-0 lead in the match after the 25-12 set victory.

Widener looked to extend the match with a victory in the third set and held four-point leads at 7-3, 10-6, 12-8, and 14-10. Wilkes then scored five-straight points to take a 15-14 lead. In the run. Schumacher and Mensah had kills and Hefner and Mensah combined for a block. With the score 18-17 in favor of the Colonels an attack error by the Pride followed by a Purpura and Hefner block and two service aces from Hefner pushed the lead to 22-17. Kills from Henne, Mensah, and Schumacher gave Wilkes the final three points it needed in the set to win 25-19 and take a match 3-0 for the second consecutive time to close out the 2018 season.

Mensah was second on the team with seven kills while Hefner added four kills and three aces to go along with his one solo block and seven block assists. Purpura directed the offense with 23 assists and had a career-high three block assists. Kyle Price (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) had eight digs from the libero position and Potter finished with five digs, three kills, two blocks, and one ace.

The Wilkes defense forced Widener to a -.153 hitting percentage, a season low for a Wilkes opponent.

Wil Cicciatore and A.J. Sungenis each had six kills for the Pride.