ELMIRA, N.Y. -- After leading the men's volleyball team to a trio of straight-set victories at the Elmira College Invitational at Speidel Gymnasium, third-year hitters Matthew Buffum '18 and Ryan McDonough '18 have been named EC Athletes of the Week.

The duo of Buffum and McDonough helped the men's volleyball team shake off a rough start and end a nine-match losing streak by leading the Soaring Eagles to wins in three of the four matches over the weekend. On Friday, February 10^th, Elmira downed both Southern Vermont College and D'Youville College by identical 3-0 scores, before opening day two of the invite with a sweep of The Sage Colleges, a future United Volleyball Conference rival who's slated to join the league next season.

The 6-foot-7-inch Buffum finished the four-match home tournament with 30 kills and an average of 2.50 kills per set. His .449 attack percentage was the highest on the team among players with double-digit kills, while his 11 total blocks were a team best.

The Chesterfield, Missouri, native registered his two highest kill totals during Friday's matches, as he threw down eight against the Mountaineers and was near-perfect in the clash opposite the Spartans with nine kills on 10 attempts. The .900 attack percentage he accumulated against D'Youville is a new career high (min. five attempts). In each of Friday's tilts, Buffum also served a season-high three aces, while in the nightcap opposite the Spartans he racked up a weekend-high six total blocks. In Saturday's victory over the Gators, Buffum amassed another seven kills, two blocks, and one ace.

McDonough paced the Purple and Gold with a combined 30 kills and 3.75 kills per set in EC's straight-sets victories over Southern Vermont, D'Youville, and Sage.

In the tournament opener against the Mountaineers, McDonough recorded team highs in kills (9) and attack percentage (.412), the latter being a season high for the third-year outside hitter. He followed that up with eight kills, five digs, three aces, and one solo block against the Spartans of D'Youville. On Saturday, McDonough posted a weekend-high 13 kills to lift Elmira past the Gators. He was also tremendous on the serve, as the Lindenhurst, New York, native logged a career-high five aces, bringing his two-day total to 10.

On the season, Buffum leads EC and ranks fifth in the UVC with an impressive .388 attack percentage, while his 0.80 blocks per set average is seventh-best in the circuit. Meanwhile, McDonough's outstanding performances pushed him up a pair of UVC leaderboard spots, as he ranks eighth with 2.78 kills per set and 10^th with an average of 0.36 aces per set.

The junior pair will look to guide the Soaring Eagles to a strong start inside of conference play on Saturday, February 18^th, when Elmira hosts No. 3 Stevens Institute of Technology and No. 8 Vassar College at Speidel Gymnasium for the UVC Tri-Match, which begins at 11:00 a.m.