NEW YORK, NY – Freshman Mark Piotrowski (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) had the best game of his young career with 15 kills, four aces, four digs and two blocks as he helped lead the Wilkes University men's volleyball team to a 3-1 victory at the City College of New York inside Nat Holman Gymnasium Wednesday night. Set scores were 25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21 in favor of the Colonels in the non-conference contest.

Wilkes improved to 3-2 overall while CCNY dropped its first match of the season to drop to 2-1. The Colonels are now 4-0 all-time against the Beavers over the first three years of the program's existence.

The Colonels had a strong night on the attack, hitting at a .242 clip compared to .191 for the Beavers. Wilkes held a 9-3 lead in blocks.

The first set stayed very tight through the midway point until Wilkes strung together four consecutive points to take a 17-14 lead. Andrew Potter (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) had a kill, Cole Hefner (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) an ace and Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, PA/Central) a block during the run. A kill by Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) extended the Wilkes lead to 21-16 and the Colonels closed the set out at 25-20 to take the early advantage.

CCNY used a five-point run to grab a 10-5 lead in the second set and never looked back as the home side evened the match at 1-1 with the 25-18 victory.

Wilkes responded nicely as a three-point run gave the visitors a 7-3 lead early in the third set. A Mensah kill and an ace by JD Kirby (Eastport, NY/Eastport-South Manor) were key points in the run. Piotrowski then converted kills on three of the next four points to build the Wilkes lead to 12-5. After the Beavers closed the score to 12-9, Piotrowski stopped the run with a kill and the recorded a block. The freshman then converted another kill before Daniel Sales (Laflin, PA/James M. Coughlin) served an ace to bring the score to 16-9. CCNY went on a 7-4 run over the next 11 points but a kill by Potter and a block by Speicher stopped the momentum. Piotrowski provided the set point for Wilkes with a kill to end things at 25-20 and give the Colonels a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Beavers jumped out 4-1 in the fourth set but Wilkes scored the next five points capped by a Hefner ace to go ahead 6-4. After CCNY tied the score at 7-7, Speicher kept Wilkes ahead with a kill on the next point. A block by Hefner and an ace from Sales then pushed the Wilkes lead to 16-11 and the Colonels were able to cruise to a 25-21 victory from there to take the match in four sets, 3-1.

Piotrowski hit .500 on the night with 15 kills and only two attack errors on 26 total attacks. Mensah was second on the team with eight kills while Speicher added seven and a team-high four blocks. Potter set season-highs with six kills and seven digs. Hefner set a career-high with five aces while Sales assisted 35 times and Kirby led Wilkes with eight digs.

Xhulio Myftari had a match-high 20 kills to lead CCNY while Carlos Maldonado Madrid added a double-double with 12 kills and a match-high 10 digs for the home team.

The Colonels travel to Purchase, N.Y. Saturday to participate in a tri-match. Wilkes will face the hosts Purchase College at 11:00 a.m. before squaring off with Baruch College at 1:00 p.m.