Wilkes Men's Volleyball Splits Pair of Matches on Saturday
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team beat St Joseph's College–Brooklyn 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-15) before falling to Medaille College 0-3 (22-25, 17-25, 21-25) in the afternoon during a tri-match at the Marts Center on Saturday.
A Cole Hefner (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) kill gave Wilkes an early 6-1 lead in the first set over St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. After a Bears kill put the score at 10-4, the Colonels rattled off six straight points to open up a 15-4 lead. Later in the set, Daniel Sales (Laflin, PA/James M. Coughlin) found Everett Fritz (Ringtown, PA/Hazleton Area) for a kill that stretched the margin to 20-8. St Joseph's-Brooklyn countered with three consecutive points but Wilkes traded points down the stretch and finished off the set with an Andrew Potter (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) kill to take it by a score of 25-15
The beginning of the second set was a different story as a couple of Colonel attack errors tied the score up at 8-8. With Wilkes holding an 11-10 advantage, the navy and gold took six of seven points, due in part to kills from Hefner and Mark Piotrowski (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley), to open up a six-point lead at 17-11. The Colonels would briefly stumble with a service error before winning eight of the last nine points (14-2 overall run) to win the second set by a commanding 25-13 margin.
The third set was another close one at the start but Hefner and Brian Vu (Wantagh, NY/MacArthur) registered consecutive kills to give the Colonels some breathing room at 9-6. St. Joseph's-Brooklyn would keep it close at 10-8 but Wilkes strung together seven out of eight points to take control at 16-9. After the teams traded points for a stretch, Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) recorded a service ace to give his team a 21-13 advantage. An attack error by the navy and gold gave the Bears some relief but the Colonels captured four of the last five points, capped off by a Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, PA/Central) kill, to take the third set by a score of 25-15 and sweep the match.
Speicher paced the Colonels with 10 kills while Sales registered 36 assists.
In their second match of the day, Wilkes fell behind 9-5 to the visiting Medaille College Mavericks before a Sales service ace knotted things back up at 10-10. A Maverick attack error gave the Colonels a one point advantage at 13-12 but Medaille responded with six straight points to take an 18-13 lead. After the teams traded a couple points Wilkes countered with six consecutive points of their own to take back the lead at 21-20. A Potter kill gave the Colonels a 22-21 advantage but the Mavericks finished the set with four straight points to take it 25-22.
The second set was back and forth in the early going as there were several lead changes which saw the Mavericks leading by just one at 10-9. Medaille would then capitalize on a couple Wilkes errors to get some breathing room at 13-9. Another run of three straight points by the visitors maintained the lead at five at 16-11. A Speicher kill paired with an out of rotation call against the Mavericks pulled the Colonels to within four in the late stages of the set at 19-15. Medaiile remained unfazed however as they captured the next four points and six of the final eight to take set two 25-17.
Wilkes held an early 6-5 advantage in the third set after a Hefner kill but Medaille answered with five straight points to take a 10-6 lead. A pair of errors by the Mavericks pulled the Colonels within two at 13-11 but Medaille responded with three kills in a four-point stretch to hold onto a 16-13 lead. Wilkes would not go away though as they rattled off four consecutive points, thanks in part to kills from Hefner and Piotrowski, to knot the score up at 16-16 and force Medaille to call a timeout. The breather worked for the Mavericks as they rattled off four straight points out of the timeout to take a 20-16 lead and force the Colonels to talk things over. The Colonels would respond yet again as a Mensah kill cut the deficit to one at 21-20. A Medaille service error again pulled Wilkes to within one at 22-21 but the Mavericks would cap off the set with three straight points to take the third set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
Piotrowski led the navy and gold with seven kills while Sales added 15 assists.
Wilkes returns to the court inside the Henry Gymnasium on Wednesday, March 20th when it hosts Misericordia for a Middle Atlantic Conference match at 7:00 p.m.
