WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team lost both matches of a home Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) tri-match Friday night at the Marts Center. Wilkes dropped the opening match to Misericordia University 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 18-25, 16-25) and then the final match to Widener University 3-0 (13-25, 21-25, 20-25).

Wilkes is now 8-15 overall on the season and 0-6 in MAC matches. Misericordia improved to 11-11 overall and to 2-3 in the MAC as they swept Widener in the middle match of the night. Widener is now 4-7 overall and to 1-4 in the conference following the split.

The Colonels started set one against Misericordia on a 6-2 run as Everett Fritz (Ringtown, PA/Hazleton Area) and Jackson Shafer (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) each collected two kills. Wilkes continued to lead 15-11 following a Noah Taylor (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional) ace. A block by Shafer and Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) made the score 17-14 and a kill by Paul Binner (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock) kept the Colonels ahead at 20-18. Two aces by Lucas Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) pushed the Wilkes lead to 23-19 and kills by Binner and Fritz closed the set as Wilkes won 25-21 to take the 1-0 lead.

Misericordia responded by using runs in the middle portions of the second, third and fourth sets to win the match 3-1.

Taylor recorded his second career double-double as he had 10 kills and 10 digs. Shafer added a career high nine kills and six digs. Binner had seven kills and a career best eight digs while coming up one assist shy of his career high as he finished with 16. Casey Shipman (Hershey, PA/Hershey) added 13 assists.

The Cougars were led by Anthony DePalma's 15 kills while Billy Murphy added 11 of his own. Dylan Sellitti had 36 assists.

Widener used an eight-point run in the first set to take control. In the second set the Pride gave away a lead with Wilkes tying the score at 21-21 on a Shafer kill but then Widener scored the final four points to win 25-21. The Colonels led by as many as six points at 15-9 in the third set but Widener closed on a 16-5 run to win 25-20 and take the sweep.

Fritz led the Colonels in the second match with four kills. Binner posted five blocks to tie his career high and Shafer had four to set his career high. Adan Sandoval (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon) led Wilkes with four digs.

Matthew Christ was the star of the match for Widener as he had 19 kills, five aces and five blocks. Josh Matchett dished out 39 assists.

The Colonels are now off through Spring Break. They will return to the court on Wednesday, March 16 with a non-conference match at Drew University starting at 7:00 p.m.