ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's volleyball team welcomes Baruch College to Speidel Gymnasium for its first home match in a month on Saturday, March 18. The non-conference tilt is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Soaring Eagles cruised to a 3-0 road victory last time out against D'Youville College, Elmira's second consecutive win and the team's fourth in its last six contests. EC's hot hitting was the key to win, as the Purple and Gold produced their best attack percentage (.564) in the team's brief seven-year history. Elmira hit no worse than .316 in any of the sets, which included errorless performances in the first (.696) and third sets (.692). Ryan McDonough '18 and Mark Kawecki '17 finished with double-digit kills, as McDonough floored a match-high 12 kills and Kawecki added another 11. Kawecki wasn't finished there, as the Bangor, Pennsylvania, native produced match highs in aces (5), blocks (2), and digs (5). Sophomore standout Jeremy Best '19 continued to orchestrate the EC attack with a match-high 29 assists, his 23rd double-digit assist performance of the 2017 campaign.

RECORD-BOOK WATCH: In Elmira's win over D'Youville, several Soaring Eagles either moved up in the EC record book or put themselves in a position to advance during this weekend's match. With 11 kills against the Spartans, Mark Kawecki '17 moved into sole possession of fourth place in program history for career kills (594), surpassing former teammate Dylan Kuhn '16 (593). Matthew Buffum '18 is one kill away from moving into a two-way tie for sixth place in EC history for career kills (469), while second-year setter Jeremy Best '19 became just the third player in Elmira's seven-year history to reach the 1,000-assist plateau.

SCOUTING BARUCH: The 2017 season got off to a bumpy start for the Bearcats, who dropped their first seven contests of the season, five of which came in shutout fashion. However, Baruch is playing a much better brand of volleyball as of late, and as a result, the Bearcats are 7-5 in their last 12 matches. Baruch's success during that stretch directly coincides with league play, as it sits atop the conference standings with a perfect 6-0 record in City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) matches. It has been a collective group effort on offense for the Bearcats, who have three players with 100-plus kills and two others with over 75 kills. Nicholas Godino and Stephen Roach pace the group with 157 and 129 kills, respectively. Roach has also proven to be a solid distributor of the ball with 150 assists, second only to Brendan Murphy's team-leading 330 helpers.

SERIES HISTORY: The all-time series against Baruch has been tightly contested in the seven previous matches, with the Bearcats owning a slim 4-3 lead. The most recent matchup between the programs was a 3-2 Elmira win over Baruch on April 3, 2015. Matthew Buffum '18 posted a strong outing against the Bearcats, as he finished with a match-high six blocks.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Soaring Eagles will continue UVC play with a home tilt against Penn State-Behrend on Tuesday, March 21. The conference bout is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. on the hardwood inside EC's Speidel Gymnasium.