WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team returned to the Marts Center for their first home contest in over a month, narrowly falling to Elizabethtown College in five sets 18-25, 18-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-9.

Wilkes falls to 8-20 on the year and 0-6 in Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) play, while Elizabethtown improves to 15-10 and 2-4 in conference play.

After taking the first two sets, the Blue Jays got out to a 6-4 lead in the third. Wilkes stormed back to take the lead with a 10-point scoreless run led by two kills from Jackson Shafer (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) and an ace by Aidan Hunter (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson). Elizabethtown fought back to make the set competitive, but the Colonels claimed their first set of the day 25-18 thanks to a kill by Lucas Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central).

Elizabethtown once again started the fourth set strong with a 5-1 lead, but the Colonels fought back with four-straight points to tie the game at five. The teams traded the lead back and forth, but the Colonels took it for good with a three-point run to take a game tied at 12 to 15-12 in their favor on three Blue Jay errors. L. Mages once again delivered the set-sealing kill to cheers from the Marts Center.

In the fifth set however, another early Elizabethtown lead sank the Colonels, unable to recover from an early 5-3 hole as the visitors took the match 15-9.

L. Mages was one of three Colonels in double-digit kills with 15, followed by Shafer (13) and Hunter (10). James Brust (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) served up 31 assists, the third-most of the season for the sophomore, while Hunter led the team with 13 digs. Shafer and Alex Derk (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) were close behind with 12 each.

Logan Smith led the visitors with 19 kills, while Mason Boyer added a team-high six assists. Defensively, Smith and Dustin Hagin led the team with 10 digs each.
The Colonels finish the regular season on their home court tomorrow, as they welcome No. 5 ranked Juniata College to the Marts Center at 1:00 PM.