WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team took Arcadia University the distance in their Tuesday night non-conference matchup before falling to the Knights in the fifth set inside the Marts Center.

Wilkes suffered their fifth loss of the season, dropping to 13-5 overall. Meanwhile, Arcadia improved to 13-7 with the win.
 
The first set started off in extremely close fashion as Wilkes and Arcadia exchanged several leads before a four-point run gave the Knights a 7-4 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Zach Shay (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) and Jackson Shafer (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) brought the Colonels within two points of tying the Knights midway through the set. Shafer made a huge block on the far side of the court, stuffing the ball back onto Arcadia's side of the floor to keep Wilkes within striking distance. A pair of kills by Shafer and one block by Lucas Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) created a huge 3-0 run that knotted the first set at 14-14. Aidan Hunter (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) got himself on the scoresheet with a kill that tied the set up once again, this time at 17-17. Following a Colonel timeout, a long volley resulted in another kill by Hunter that cut the Wilkes deficit to one point. They tied the score up at 20-20 behind Shafer's fourth kill of the evening. The Colonels reclaimed the lead thanks to two-straight attack errors that put the hosts up 23-21. Wilkes buckled down in the final stages of the first frame, securing the final two points of the set by way of a Jacob Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) kill and an attacking error to claim the first set 25-22.
 
Wilkes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set, however the Knights answered right back with a pair of points of their own. The Colonels continued to take one-point leads in the early stages of the set before the Knights would respond to tie the game. The Blue and Gold finally tacked on an insurance point thanks to a kill by Paul Binner (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock) that opened up an 11-9 lead. Not to be outdone, Arcadia rattled off two unanswered points to tie the score back up at 11-11 before taking a 13-12 lead a few points later. Wilkes came back with a vengeance as the second set progressed, as the team went on a 6-0 run to put themselves in control of a 18-14 lead. Back-to-back kills by L. Mages and and Shafer followed by an attack error put the Colonels within three points of claiming the set. The Knights hung tough, putting together a 3-0 to prevent Wilkes from notching the final two points necessary to take the set and causing coach Joseph Czopek to call a timeout to discuss strategy. Coming out of the timeout, Arcadia continued to build momentum and eventually tied the score at 24-24 after another 3-0 run. The Knights completed the comeback behind a service ace and an attack error to win the second set 26-24.
The third set opened in close fashion and both teams found themselves locked in a 3-3 battle early on. An attack error gave the Colonels a 4-3 lead that grew after a massive kill by J. Mages. Moving forward in the set, a crafty off-balance kill by Binner broke a 9-9 tie. Wilkes' lead grew to 11-9 after another kill by Shafer. The Blue and Gold fired off a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead and force the Knights' head coach to call a timeout. Following an attack error, Arcadia put together a 3-0 run to stop the bleeding and cut their deficit to five points. As the third set entered its latter stages, the Colonels fought through a lengthy rally to force the Knights to commit an attacking error and put the hosts up 23-17. A brief 2-0 run by the visitors made things interesting late in the set, but consecutive service and attacking errors locked up the 25-19 set victory for Wilkes.
 
The Colonels started the fourth set with a 4-1 run before Arcadia clawed their way back to a 6-6 tie. Following a brief 8-7 lead for the Knights, a screaming ball hit by Binner grazed a player on the other side of the net before falling to the floor to erase the deficit. The fourth set continued in a similar manner as the first three as neither team could find their footing and pull away with a large lead. Midway through the set, the score stayed tied 12-12. Arcadia began to pull away later in the set, rattling off four unanswered points to cause Wilkes to take a timeout and regroup. Teams continued to trade points coming out of the break before Shafer fired off back-to-back kills to tie the set at 19-19 and inject a burst of energy into the crowd at the Marts Center. Four-straight points put the Knights within reach of claiming the set as the guests held a 23-19 advantage. Arcadia was successful in grabbing the final two points, sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
The Knights edged Wilkes 8-6 in the first half of the fifth set as the teams switched sides. Wilkes continued to battle down the stretch, picking up a huge block from Shay that brought the score to 10-8. Arcadia brought their lead back up to four points and was able to close out the set 15-12 and take the match three sets to two.
 
Shafer led the Colonels with 19 points on 15 kills while also collecting 10 digs, tying him with Hunter for the team lead. Shay posted a massive 42-assist performance as Binner ended the day with an impressive .391 hitting percentage.
 
The Knights saw 22 of their points come from Danny Gonzalez, who had 17 kills and 12 attack errors along with four service aces. Evan Rothmann posted a .438 hitting percentage and Vioncent Colucci recorded 11 digs in the victory.
 
The Colonels return to the court on Friday, March 15 when they host Regis College at the Marts Center. The first set against the Pride is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.