Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's volleyball team heads to Hoboken, NJ for the opening day of the United Volleyball Conference Tournament. EC, who earned the fifth seed after going 4-4 in UVC play, will go up against the fourth-seeded Royals from NYU at 4:00 p.m. today.
 
Last Time Out
Elmira brought their 2015 regular season to a close last weekend by hosting the Soaring Eagle Invitational. EC posted wins over No. 10 Baruch College and D'Youville College on Friday, before falling in four sets to No. 2 UC Santa Cruz in the opening match Saturday morning. Erik Griffin '16 and Mike Ellison '16 paced the Soaring Eagles with 39 and 35 combined kills, respectively, in the three matches.
 
Shade Earns UVC's Top Honor
Rob Shade '15 has been the anchor of Elmira's defensive efforts throughout his entire career and that was recognized by the UVC coaches earlier this week. Shade, who leads the conference in digs per set, was named the UVC Libero/Defensive Specialist of the Year and earned a spot on the UVC All-Conference First Team, joining teammate Erik Griffin '16.
 
Elmira's UVC Tournament History
This is the fourth consecutive year that the Soaring Eagles will compete in the UVC Tournament and the second straight year that they will play in the 4 v 5 matchup. EC took down Medaille College in five-sets in last year's tournament for their first-ever UVC Tournament victory before falling to NYU in the semifinals, 3-2.
 
Regular Season Meeting
EC and NYU met at Speidel Gymnasium on February 15th during the first weekend of UVC group play. Elmira's Erik Griffin '16 had 12 kills, but the Royals, behind the three-headed attack of Colin LaPorte, Chase Klein, and Nick Benson, took down the Soaring Eagles in four sets. EC, as a team, had a hitting percentage of .032, part of which can be attributed to NYU's 16 total team blocks. Phil Bueno was involved in 11 of those 16 blocks as he recorded 11 block assists.