WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team pushed the visitors from Misericordia University to a fourth set before dropping a 3-1 (19-25, 20-25, 25-21, 17-25) Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) match at the Marts Center Wednesday night. The Cougars beat the Colonels in three sets just eight days ago as they have now swept the season series.

Wilkes dropped to 9-11 overall and to 3-6 in the MAC while Misericordia improved to 15-12 overall and to 5-5 in the league.

Misericordia started strong in the first set by opening a 6-2 lead but Wilkes responded with a run of four points to tie the score at 6-6. Three consecutive kills by Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) off passes from JD Kirby (Eastport, NY/Eastport-South Manor) followed by a Cougars attack error provided the Colonel points. Misericordia answered with its own four-point run and then Wilkes was unable to close the gap to within two points the rest of the way as the visitors took set one by a 25-19 score.

Neither team could get separation in the second set until Wilkes scored three in a row to go up 10-7. After Misericordia answered with three points Wilkes scored the next four to lead 14-10 capped off by back-to-back block-assist plays by Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, PA/Central) and Speicher. The Colonels continued to lead at 16-14 but then the Cougars scored 11 of the final 15 points to pull away to a 25-20 victory in set two to open a 2-0 lead in the match.

With Misericordia leading 7-3 early in the third set it looked as if the visitors would finish off the Navy and Gold in straight sets but Wilkes was able to battled back. A kill by Andrew Potter (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) pulled the Colonels within one at 7-6 and a Speicher kill did the same at 9-8. A Mark Piotrowski (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) kill kept Wilkes down just one at 11-10 and then the Colonels went on a five-point scoring run with Daniel Sales (Laflin, PA/James M. Coughlin) serving to open a 15-11 advantage. Mensah had a solo block and then combined for another with Cole Hefner (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) and then Sales followed with two service aces for the first four points in the run. Wilkes didn't waiver the rest of the way with kills coming from Mensah, Speicher, Potter, Piotrowski, and a final one by Hefner to take the set 25-21 and cut the Cougars match lead to 2-1.

After Misericordia gained an early 5-2 lead Wilkes went ahead 6-5 following four straight points that Speicher was a part of. The freshman had two kills and two block assists in the run. The Cougars answered with three-straight to take back the lead and from there gradually extended their lead to win the fourth set at 25-19 and take the match 3-1.

Piotrowski led Wilkes with 10 kills and 11 digs. Speicher followed with nine kills while adding four blocks. Mensah had seven kills and four blocks and Hefner finished with five kills and four blocks. Potter had six kills and seven digs. Kyle Price (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) reached double-digit digs for the third time this season with 10 total. Sales had 28 assists and six digs while Kirby registered eight assists and six digs.

Ryan Miller led Misericordia with 18 kills and nine digs while Dylan Sellitti had 38 assists.

Wilkes is back in action as it will play matches four and five of an eight-match homestand on Saturday, March 23 when it hosts a tri-match. The Colonels will face No. 6 Stevenson University in a MAC match at 12:00 p.m. and then host Penn State Behrend in a non-conference tilt at approximately 4:00 p.m.