WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team battled No. 13 Arcadia University tight in the second and third sets but ultimately dropped its Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) match on Senior Night at the Marts Center by a 3-0 final Wednesday. Arcadia took the sets 25-13, 25-23, 25-19.

Kyle Price (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) and Daniel Sales (Laflin, PA/James M. Coughlin) closed out their careers inside the Marts Center and were honored before the match with a Senior Night ceremony. Price finished with a team-high eight digs from the libero position while Sales dished out 24 assists and had six digs as the setter.

Wilkes dropped to 9-14 overall and to 3-8 in the MAC with the loss. The nationally ranked Arcadia side improved to 23-5 overall and to 12-1 in the league.

Following a Cole Hefner (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) service ace the Colonels led 5-4 early in the opening set and Wilkes continued to lead at 9-8 after a kill by Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby). The Knights then scored nine points in a row to take command at 17-9. The visitors would win the first set 25-13.

Arcadia opened up a 9-6 lead in the second set before Wilkes answered to even the score at 9-9 following points collected on a Jones Mensah (Philadelphia, PA/Central) kill, a Mensah and Hefner block and another Mensah kill. Mensah's third kill of the set pushed the Colonels ahead 11-10. After Arcadia regained the lead at 13-12, the Knights led 19-17 before Wilkes scored five consecutive points to take a 22-19 lead. Three kills in a row by Mensah and an ace from Hefner forced an Arcadia timeout and then Hefner followed with another ace in the scoring run. Arcadia would then score the next three points to tie the score but Speicher put down a kill to put Wilkes a nose ahead at 23-22. The Knights then closed with two kills and an attack error by the Colonels on set point to win 25-23 and go ahead 2-0 in the match.

Wilkes led early on in the third set before Arcadia pushed ahead but Wilkes would regain a lead at 13-12 after back-to-back kills from Hefner and Mensah. Another Mensah kill made it 15-14 and an Andrew Potter (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) attack off the block kept the Colonels ahead at 16-15. The Knights then went on a 5-0 run to take a 20-16 advantage and were able to hold off a Wilkes rally from there as the road team took set three by a 25-19 score for the sweep.

Mensah led the Wilkes attack with 11 kills on 17 attempts with no errors for a .647 hitting percentage. Potter and Speicher each added six kills.

Quinn Bailey led Arcadia with nine kills and eight digs. Dan Paraskevov also had nine kills, all coming in the third set. Anthony Devantier directed the Knights offense with 30 assists as he played the first and third sets.

The Colonels return to the court on Friday, March 29 for a non-conference tri-match in Jersey City, N.J. Wilkes will face Sarah Lawrence College at 6:00 p.m. and then the hosts New Jersey City University at 8:00 p.m.