Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's volleyball team faced a 2-0 hole against No. 6 nationally-ranked Nazareth College, but the Soaring Eagles rallied for a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind victory over their United Volleyball Conference (UVC) rivals. Tonight's victory gives the Purple and Gold their first win over a nationally-ranked opponent in 2015.
 
Leading the charge for Elmira tonight was the two-headed attacking duo of Erik Griffin'16 and Mark Kawecki '17, who stepped-up admirably in place of the injured Mike Ellison '16. Griffin paced all players with 27 kills, 12 more than the nearest person, his teammate Kawecki. The third-year outside hitter hit .352 while attempting 54 attacks on the night, while also adding six digs, three total blocks, one solo and two assisted, and three assists. Kawecki really elevated his level of play during the three-set comeback as his powerful attacks as well as his fast-paced serve created problems for the Golden Flyers. He recorded 15 kills on 21 swings, finishing the match with an impressive .571 hitting percentage. Kawecki also did his part on defense, recording the second-highest number of digs on the team with nine.
 
Setting-up the Elmira attack was Carlos Faccio '16, who continues to put his teammates in quality attacking positions match-in and match-out. Faccio tallied 56 assists on the night, his second-straight 50-plus assist match and fifth overall on the season. His serving prowess was also on display as he recorded all three of EC's service aces. The three aces upped Faccio's season total to 54, which breaks the Elmira College men's volleyball single-season record for aces of 53 previously held by Ryan Gelenitis '14. Faccio also chipped-in defensively with seven digs and two block assists.
 
Elmira's defense really stepped-up in the final three sets. After allowing Nazareth to hit .409 in the second set, EC limited the Golden Flyers to two sub-.300 hitting percentage frames in sets three and four and a .312 hitting percentage in set five. The Soaring Eagles totaled 45 digs, compared to 37 for Nazareth, with 15 of those coming from EC's libero Rob Shade '15. Elmira also totaled five blocks, one solo and eight assisted, with Griffin, one solo and two assists, and Andrew Johnson '16, three assists, each totaling three.  
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair in the early goings, but after EC took a 14-12 lead on a kill by Griffin, Nazareth went on a mini 4-0 run to take a 16-14 lead. The Golden Flyers maintained their advantage, and despite Elmira cutting it to a 21-20 game, Nazareth pulled-away for the 25-22 first set victory.
 
EC came out and quickly took control of the second set as back-to-back Faccio aces gave the Soaring Eagles a two-point lead. Elmira was able to extend that lead to four points on a couple of occasions, the last time coming at 9-5, but Nazareth would use a 6-2 run to tie the set at 11. After an exchange of points, the Purple and Gold again went out in front and looked to even the match score at one apiece, but the Golden Flyers had other ideas. EC led 20-16 with Faccio up to serve, but a Grant Levermore kill set up a 9-0 run by Nazareth that gave the Golden Flyers a 25-20 victory in the second set and a two-sets-to-none advantage.
 
Still riding-high on their second-set win, Nazareth came out and took an early 6-4 lead in the third set. But a 5-1 Elmira run slowed Nazareth's momentum and put the Soaring Eagles on top 9-7. The two teams went back-and-forth from there on until the score was tied 16 all. From there, with Tyler Smith'15 serving, the Purple and Gold rattled off five straight points to go ahead 21-16. That five-point cushion proved to be plenty as EC closed-out the set, 25-21, and made it a 2-1 match.
 
The fourth set was the closest of them all as Elmira erased one match-point and Nazareth eradicated three EC set-points before the Soaring Eagles finally pulled out the 29-27 victory. Consistent with the other three sets played up to this point, the fourth set was close throughout. The Purple and Gold took an early 8-4 lead, but after a Nazareth timeout, the Golden Flyers rallied to tie the game up at nine. Nazareth continued to roll, eventually taking a 23-19 lead in the fourth set before EC made their comeback.
 
A block assist by Johnson and Griffin made it 23-20 and swung the momentum in Elmira's favor. That sparked a 4-0 run that tied the set at 23-23 and gave Elmira new life. Nazareth won the next point to set up match-point, but Griffin came up with a clutch kill to keep EC alive. Elmira then had three set points negated by the Golden Flyers until, at 28-27, Smith buried a kill to force a deciding fifth set.
 
The Golden Flyers jumped out to an early 5-3 lead in the fifth set, but the Soaring Eagles used a 5-1 run to go up 8-6 as the teams switched sides of the net. EC's run, as well as their overall comeback had seemed to rejuvenate the fans in the building as they were on their feet for much of the fifth set. Nazareth fought to tie the game at 9-9, and then again at 11-11 after EC had taken back-to-back points, but the Soaring Eagles showed their resiliency. Elmira won four of the next five points, with the final point coming on a block assist by Johnson and Faccio, to take the fifth set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
 
The Soaring Eagles will look to use this victory as a springboard into this weekend's Mark Twain Cup. EC will play four matches over the course of the two-day event, beginning with Stevenson University on Friday, February 27th at 4:00 p.m. in Speidel Gymnasium.