Score: Elmira College 3, Benedictine University at Mesa 1
Records: Elmira (9-4), Benedictine at Mesa (10-4)
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA - Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center

Thousand Oaks, CA -- The 13th-ranked Elmira College men's volleyball team opened its weekend road trip in California with a 3-1 win over Benedictine University at Mesa in a neutral site match, hosted by California Lutheran University on Friday.

After playing to a 1-1 tie through the first two sets, the Soaring Eagles closed the match with a dominating offensive performance. As a team, EC registered attack percentages above .400 in the final sets, including a match-high .462 in the decisive fourth set. In the third and fourth sets alone, Elmira recorded a combined 28 kills with only six attack errors.

In Their Own Words...
Head Coach Stephen England on the adjust his team made after losing first set...
"We made a serve-recieve adjustment and we started serving our target more accurately. That put them in a tough situation to side out."

Coach England on the return of All-American Erik Griffin '16 to the lineup after a six-match absence...
"He just gave us a confidence boost as a squad and he gave us the ability to terminate in tough swing situations, which ended up being the difference in the match."

Coach England on the importance of opening the weekend road trip with a win...
"Any time you get a win, it boosts the team morale. It's even better that we got a win 3,000 miles away from home. It's never easy to travel, especially all the way across the country. I am very proud of the guys and I am looking forward to another tough day ahead of us."

Turning Point
The Redhawks opened the match with a 25-20 first-set victory to set an early tone, but it was only a matter of time before the lethal EC offense found its grove. The Soaring Eagles hit .417 in the third and .462 in the fourth to close out the match, committing only six errors on 50 total attacks in those sets.

Inside the Box

• After dropping the first set 20-25, Elmira reeled off wins of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-17.
• EC hit nearly 200 percentage points higher in the fourth set (.462) than in the first-set loss (.263)
• The Soaring Eagles had 14 kills in each of the final two sets.
• Erik Griffin '16 paced Elmira with 19 kills.
• Dylan Kuhn '16 recorded kills on all six of his attack attempts.
• Carlos Faccio '16 paced EC with 31 assists.

News and Notes

• With the win, EC snapped its brief two-game skid.
• Elmira is now 1-0 all-time against Benedictine University at Mesa.
• The Soaring Eagles, who have played the majority of their matches at neutral sites this season, improve to 6-1 in such matches.

Up Next
No. 13 Elmira College will cap off the weekend excursion in the Golden State with a doubleheader on Saturday, February 20th. The Soaring Eagles will face University of California, Santa Cruz at 1:30 p.m. PST, before facing California Lutheran University at 3:30 p.m. PST.