Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Huntingdon, PA – The No. 15 Elmira College Men's Volleyball team dropped a pair of matches in its season-opening tri-match at Juniata College on Saturday. The Soaring Eagles fell to No. 3 Juniata 3-2 (21-25, 16-25, 25-18, 30-28, 15-11) and got swept by Stevenson 3-0 (17-25, 22-25, 22-25).

EC got off to a slow start as Juniata took the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-16. The Purple and Gold showed their mental toughness responding with big wins in the third and fourth sets, 25-18 and 30-28 in a thrilling fourth set. The hosts answered gritting out a 15-11 victory in the decisive fifth set.

Erik Griffin '16 (Victor, NY -- Victor) paced the Soaring Eagle attack with a match-high 20 kills to go with 11 digs. Mike Ellison '16 (Victor, NY -- Victor) and Tyler Smith '15 (North Syracuse -- Pace Bootlegger) added 13 and nine kills, respectively. Rob Shade '15 (West Irondequoit, NY -- West Irondequoit) was assertive defensively tallying a match-high13 digs, while Michael Vellutato '14 (Topanga, CA -- Redondo Union) dished out a match-high 52 assists.

Elmira struggled against Stevenson committing 19 errors, while pounding out 35 kills. The Soaring Eagles hit just .180 as a team in the match. Ryan Gelenitis '14 (Brick, NJ -- Christian Brothers Academy) led EC with nine kills, while Shade tallied 11 digs. Vellutato dished out 31 assists.

The Men's Volleyball team returns home to Speidel Gymnasium for its home-opener Wednesday when it hosts Penn State Erie-Behrend at 6:00 p.m.