ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The Wilkes men's volleyball team dropped a straight-set decision to Elizabethtown College Friday evening at Thompson Gymnasium.

With the loss, the Colonels fall to 11-14 overall and 0-6 in Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) play, while the Blue Jays improve to 15-9 on the season and 4-2 in conference action.

Elizabethtown came out strong in the opening set, jumping to an early 3-0 lead before Wilkes responded to even the score. The teams traded points briefly, but the Blue Jays used a decisive 6-0 run, fueled by Braydon Ambruster, to take control and force a Wilkes timeout. Although the Colonels scored out of the break, Elizabethtown maintained momentum to claim the set 25-16.

Wilkes opened the second set with a 2-0 edge behind a pair of points from Carter Otto (Mountain View, CA/Mountain View), but Elizabethtown answered quickly to tie the score and the teams exchanged points early. The Blue Jays then pulled away with a dominant 10-2 run to build a 15-8 advantage. Wilkes trimmed the deficit to four with contributions from Marcus Binner (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock) and Aaron Ladd (Souderton, PA/Pennridge), but Elizabethtown closed out the set 25-20 to take a 2-0 match lead.

The Blue Jays carried that momentum into the third, using an early 8-3 run to build a 14-7 lead. Aidan Hunter (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) and Logan Maha (Sayville, NY/Sayville) helped cut the deficit to five at 16-11, but Elizabethtown responded with a late 7-2 surge to secure the 25-15 set win and complete the sweep.

Binner led the Colonels with a team-high eight kills, while Ladd added five. Joshua Conley (Chalfont, PA/Central Bucks South) directed the offense with 14 assists, and Hunter paced the defense with five digs, followed closely by Alex Derk (Perkasie, PA/Pennridge) with four.

Elizabethtown was led by Mason Boyer with 11 kills, while Ambruster recorded a match-high 21 assists. Arun Gopinath anchored the back row with nine digs.

Wilkes will close out conference play on Saturday, March 28, traveling to Huntingdon, Pa. to take on Juniata College at 2:00 p.m.