WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University Colonels men's volleyball squad hosted the Immaculata Mighty Macs and Wilson Phoenix for a pair of matches Saturday afternoon.
 
The Colonels (8-9) rallied with three straight set victories after falling behind 2-0 against Immaculata (4-9) to take a 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-12, 15-10) win before taking down Wilson (0-4) in 3-0 (25-13, 25-9, 25-8) fashion.
 
The pair of Wilkes and Immaculata were neck and neck through the first set, with neither team holding more than a three-point lead.  Immaculata took a 16-13 advantage off of a 5-2 run, before the Colonels responded with a set tying 4-1 run, then followed up a pair of Mighty Mac points with a 6-1 run of their own to take a 23-20 lead before Immaculata finished the set on a 5-0 run.  The Colonels jumped out to a 6-1 advantage in the second set and held onto their five-point advantage until the Mighty Macs rattled off a 7-2 run to tie up the set at 16 all.  Immaculata squeaked ahead at 21-20, but a 3-1 run with a pair of kills from sophomore Paul Binner (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock) pushed the Colonels to a 23-22 advantage.  Immaculata finished the set with a 3-0 run.
 
The third set started similarly to the first as no team found a real advantage until the Mighty Macs found a 6-2 run late to pull ahead 21-18 and within striking distance of the match.  The Navy and Gold roared to life, taking the set with a 7-2 run and carrying their momentum into the fourth set with a 9-1 run to start.  The Colonels refused to let Immaculata into the fourth set, a 10-4 run pushing them to a 19-6 advantage on their way to a 25-12 victory to force a fifth set.  The Mighty Macs would hold the lead at 3-2, but the Colonels rallied with a 5-0 run to put the Mighty Macs behind for good. 
 
Sophomore Noah Taylor (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional) posted a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs, both career highs.  Binner posted a career-high and team-leading 20 kills, while senior Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) had a career-high 16 kills and a season-high six blocks.   The 20 kills from Binner were good for a tie for second on the Colonels all-time list.   Junior Casey Shipman (Hershey, PA/Hershey) had a career-high 34 assists, while first year Lucas Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) led the team and had a career-high 19 digs, tied for second all-time for the Colonels.  Speicher posted 22 points, good for third all-time in Wilkes men's volleyball history. 
 
Wilkes never trailed in the match against Wilson.  The Colonels started with a 5-1 lead and never looked back in set one, and started set two with an 8-0 run, and then tacked on another 8-0 run to take a 18-4 advantage in the second set.  A 6-2 run started the third set for the Colonels, which they followed up with a 10-1 run to have a 17-5 lead in the third.
 
First year Jared Lowerre (Brick, NJ/Brick Township) got his first five kills in the Navy and Gold, while first year Cody Smith (Berwick, PA/Berwick Area) also had five kills.  Speicher posted four aces and five blocks and senior Everett Fritz (Ringtown, PA/Hazleton Area) led the team with six kills.  Junior Zach Shay (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) led the squad with 16 assists.  The Colonels travel to Madison, N.J. next Thursday to face Drew at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch of a 1/22/22 match the Colonels won 3-1.