Score: Elmira College 3, Keuka College 1 [25-20, 22-25, 25-16, 25-18]
Records: Elmira (20-7), Keuka (13-10)
Location: Elmira, NY - Speidel Gymnasium
 
Elmira, NY -- On a night that Elmira College men's volleyball honored its graduating members of the Class of 2016, the Soaring Eagles rode the efforts of its seniors to an impressive four-set win over Keuka College. With the win, Elmira successfully registered its third consecutive 20-win season and fourth overall in program history.
 
The first point of tonight's match got the crowd on their feet in a hurry, as senior outside hitter Erik Griffin '16 put away one of his match's 10 kills. Griffin's kill gave the Victor, NY, native 1,441 kills for his career, making him Elmira's new all-time leader, as he surpassed former teammate Ryan Gelenitis '14 for the top spot.
 
Griffin's kill was the first of 14 in the first set for EC, the most of any of tonight's sets, which helped the Purple and Gold secure a 25-20 win in the opening frame. Elmira hit a blistering 40.7-percent from the floor, the highest attack percentage of the match for the Soaring Eagles. EC was also ultra-effective receiving serve in the first set with a 76-percent sideout success rate.
 
Elmira was unable to sustain its hot-hitting in the second set, as Keuka eked out a 25-22 win to level the match at one set apiece. Credit the Keuka offense on a solid bounce-back effort with a 33.3-percent attack percentage, their highest success rate of the match and only positive percentage of the night.
 
The Soaring Eagles turned to their newest member of the 1,000-kill club, Mike Ellison '16, to lead the charge in a comeback third set. Ellison put EC on his back with a six-kill effort on a 6k-1e-7ta stat line, which fueled the Purple and Gold to their most lopsided win of the match, 25-16.
 
With a 2-sets-to-1 lead, Elmira looked to put away a pesky Wolfpack squad, who made things interesting through the early stages of the fourth. Elmira proved to be too much for Keuka down the stretch though, as the Soaring Eagles used a 5-0 run to take a commanding 23-15 lead. With the match well in hand, Coach Stephen England subbed in first-year member of the team Brian Lowe '16.
 
Playing in just his fourth match of the year, Lowe had an opportunity on match point to register his first collegiate kill. On the play, freshman Jeremy Best '19 lobbed one to Lowe, who skied towards the net for an attempt. Lowe crushed the ball for the kill, bringing everyone in attendance to their feet. Unfortunately, the point was awarded to Keuka on a violation that occurred on the set, which brought the score to 24-18.
 
Tonight's match ended on a Keuka attack error, as EC claimed the final set 25-18 and the match by a 3-1 final.
 
In His Own Words…
Coach England shares his thoughts on his team's performance tonight…
"I'm really proud of the way the guys played tonight. We did some new things with our lineup that we haven't done before to see how they would look heading into this weekend's matches. The seniors on this team are a special group of guys. They have won 83 matches in their careers and are arguably some of the best players in the country that I have been privileged to have on this team over the last four years."
 
Coach England talks about Griffin setting the all-time kills record on senior night…
"It's unbelievable. Who knew he was going to be the player he is the first day he stepped foot in our gym, but we all knew he was going to be something special. As a freshman he stepped right into the starting lineup and was able to compete within our conference at a really high level. I am blessed to have him as part of this team. The first play of the game was really special too; he hit that ball really hard – I thought he was going to pop it. But what a great person Erik is; he's a team-first oriented player and it's been very special coaching him over the last four year."
 
Coach England shares his thoughts on Ellison's 18-kill performance…
"On any other team in the country, Mike is the best player. He does all the things you can't really quantify really well. He plays defense, he passes really well, he doesn't make mistakes and when he does, he makes very few of them. Ellison and Griffin are best friends from high school so it's nice to have that pairing on this team. He's been a really special and great kid to have around the program."
 
Coach England looks ahead to this weekend's UVC matches…
"It's a big weekend and we know that going in. Our routines need to be the same for those matches as we have done this whole season. If we can just complete the tasks at hand and take it one point at a time instead of thinking of the results, we will be fine this Saturday."  
 
Inside the Box

• Elmira outhit Keuka by a wide margin, as the Soaring Eagles posted a combined .277 attack percentage vs. only .010 for the Wolfpack.
• EC held a slim 11-to-7 advantage in total blocks.
• Both teams tossed up a trio of aces and finished with 36 digs apiece.
• Ellison led all players with 18 kills and a paced players with at least 10 total attacks with a .517 hitting percentage.
• Griffin and Kawecki finished with 10 kills.
• Johnson recorded six kills on 10 total attacks, equaling a .500 percentage.
• Hinman was the only Keuka player with double-digit kills (10), but committed nine errors for a .030 percentage.
• Griffin earned a double-double with a game-high tying 10 digs.
• Keuka's Cooper Lyon also had 10 digs.
• Best was credited with a game-high 26 assists while splitting setter duties for EC.

 
News and Notes

• The Soaring Eagles are on a three-match win streak heading into an all-important United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Tri-Match at Vassar College.
• EC is now 1-0 all-time against Keuka after winning the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
• With a 20-7 overall record, Elmira has now won 20-plus matches in three consecutive seasons.
• EC's eight home victories are tied for the most in a single season in program history.
• With the first kill of the match, Griffin became the program's all-time leader in career kills. The active career leader in all of Division III men's volleyball now has 1,450 kills.
• The double-double was the fifth of the season for Griffin.
• Ellison's .517 attack percentage is his best of the season in matches where he finishes with double-digit attacks.
• Ellison has a season-long streak of five straight matches with double-digit kills.
• Best's 26 assists are the second-highest single-game total of his rookie season and the most since he earned 30 in the win over SUNY Poly on February 27th.

 
Up Next
Elmira returns to action this weekend, when the Purple and Gold travel to Poughkeepsie, NY for a UVC Tri-Match. The Soaring Eagles open play with an 11:00 a.m. showdown with 10th-ranked Vassar College, before concluding their trip downstate at 2:00 p.m. against top-ranked SUNY New Paltz.