No. 11 Elmira College (12-4) vs. Wells College (6-9)
No. 11 Elmira College (12-4) vs. Rivier University (9-4)
Friday, February 26, 2016 | 6:00 P.M. & 8:00 P.M. | Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, NY
 
No. 11 Elmira College (12-4) vs. No. 7 Stevenson University (13-3)
No. 11 Elmira College (12-4) vs. SUNY Poly (11-4)
Saturday, February 27, 2016 | 11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M. | Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, NY
 
Live Coverage | Twitter: @ECSoaringEagles
 
Match Schedule
Friday, February 26, 2016
Court One
Elmira vs. Wells – 6:00 p.m.
Elmira vs. Rivier – 8:00 p.m.
 
Court Two
Nazareth vs. Rivier – 6:00 p.m.
Nazareth vs. Wells – 8:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Court One
Elmira vs. Stevenson – 11:00 a.m.
Elmira vs. SUNY Poly – 1:00 p.m.
 
Court Two
SUNY Poly vs. Rivier – 11:00 a.m.
Stevenson vs. Rivier – 1:00 p.m.
 
Elmira, NY -- The 11^th-ranked Elmira College men's volleyball team will look to continue its recent surge when it returns to Speidel Gymnasium to host the Soaring Eagle Invitational. It will be a tough slate of matches for the Purple and Gold, as three of the four contests this weekend come against teams with winning records. EC opens the two-day event on Friday, February 26^th, when it takes on Wells College and Rivier University at 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., respectively. The Soaring Eagles return to action the following day when they rematch against seventh-ranked Stevenson University at 11:00 a.m., before concluding the weekend against SUNY Poly at 1:00 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
Elmira carried the momentum from its trip to the West Coast over into United Volleyball Conference play, scoring a dominant straight-set victory over Penn State-Behrend on Wednesday night. The win was Elmira's first in conference play this season and could not have come in more convincing fashion. The Soaring Eagles posted the second highest single-match hitting percentage in program history, swinging at a scintillating .521 success rate. Erik Griffin '16 continued his strong return with a team-leading 11 kills on 14 attacks (.714). Mark Kawecki '17 added 10 kills, while Carlos Faccio '16 posted a match-high seven service aces.
 
Hot Hitting
While the Soaring Eagles rank sixth in the UVC with a .266 hitting percentage on the season, they have been converting at a much heftier clip in recent contests. EC has topped its current season average in each of the last four matches, including a sensational .521 mark in its most recent match. EC is 11-1 when hitting .250-or better, while it is 1-3 when hitting below that mark.
 
Scouting Nazareth
The Golden Flyers of Nazareth College enter Friday night's matches with a 14-3 overall record and a No. 5 national ranking according to the latest AVCA poll. Two of Nazareth's losses have occurred in its last four matches, as the Golden Flyers fell in straight sets to second-ranked SUNY New Paltz and previously unranked Juniata College. However, Naz bounced back with consecutive 3-0 wins to improve to 8-2 in its last 10 matches. Much of Nazareth's success this season is in large part due to their efficency hitting the ball. As a team, Nazareth boasts the country's third-highest attack percentage at .362 and has two players with attack percentages that rank inside the Top-20 in the nation in Tim Zyburt (.394) and Grant Levermore (.388).
 
Scouting Rivier
Rivier University opens play at the Soaring Eagle Invitational with a 9-4 overall record; however, three of its losses have come against Top-10 nationally-ranked teams. The Raiders are winners of three straight matches, including its most recent victory against Regis College that came in five sets. Rivier owns the nation's fifth-highest kills per set average (12.9), but most of that success has to do with Tyler Blank's ability to facilitate the Raider offense. Blanks is assisting on just about every Rivier kill, as the Rochester, NY, native owns the country's second-highest assists per set average at 12.31.
 
Scouting Stevenson
The Mustangs continued their strong start to the season with a straight sets win over Eastern Mennonite University on Wednesday night to move to 7-0 in CVC play. It was a strong rebound following a heartbreaking five-set loss to No. 1 Springfield College over the weekend, which snapped Stevenson's 11-match winning streak. Freshman outside hitter Landon Shorts continues to pace the Mustang offense with 168 kills and a 3.50 kills per set average. Junior middle blocker Nate Ellis and senior outside hitter Kyle Pottieger have been a fearsome defensive duo at the net-front with 49.0 and 57.0 total blocks, respectively. Elmira will be looking to avenge a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Stevenson from earlier this season when the teams square off on the second day of the invitational.
 
Scouting SUNY Poly
The Wildcats are 11-4 through the first half of the 2016 season and are riding high on a four-match win streak, the team's second-longest such streak of the season. SUNY Poly is playing some of its best volleyball as of late, as the Wildcats sport an 8-2 record in their last 10 contests. One of the main reasons SUNY Poly has been winning is its increased efficiency hitting the ball, as the team owns a .261 attack percetnage, which ranks 17th in the country. The .261 success rate is SUNY Poly's highest attack percentage in over four seasons. A.J. Davids paces the Wildcat offense with a team-leading 3.42 kills per set. Davids has 11 matches this year with 10-or-more kills, but has been limited to just three kills in each of the team's last two contests.
 
Scouting Wells
Wells College opened the 2016 season by winning four of its first six matches, but has since dropped seven of its next nine. During that 2-7 stretch, Wells experienced a six-match losing streak with five of those losses coming on the road. The Express have played their fair share of road matches in 2016, as 14 of its 15 contests have been played away from its home court at the Farenthold Athletic Wing. Brannon Perdicho leads the Express with a 3.72 kills per set average, while his 108 total kills ranks second on the team. Rookie Kody McCracken has been Wells' top option on the outside, as the first-year talent leads the team with 155 total kills and is second in kills per set with a 2.82 average.
 
Looking Ahead
Following this weekend's invite, Elmira hits the road for a pair of UVC matches on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. EC opens play on Saturday, March 5th, against Bard at 11:00 a.m., before squaring off with sixth-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology at 2:00 p.m.