Score: Penn State Behrend 3 – Elmira College 1 [25-19, 25-22, 24-26, 25-21]
Records: Penn State Behrend (9-11, 1-4 UVC), Elmira (10-18, 1-5 UVC)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, N.Y.
 
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's volleyball team rallied for a third-set victory, but ultimately fell short against Penn State Behrend, 3-1, in a critical United Volleyball Conference contest on Tuesday night at Speidel Gymnasium. With the loss to the Lions, the Soaring Eagles fall to 1-5 inside UVC play, drastically slashing EC's hopes of earning the sixth and final seed in the conference's postseason tournament with just two matches remaining against nationally-ranked opponents on the league schedule.
 
Elmira and Penn State Behrend went blow for blow in the early portion of the opening set. The Lions grabbed the initial lead, but the Soaring Eagles clawed back to knot the score at 5-all on a sneaky dump set from Ryan Branigan '19. The two teams traded points until EC took a slim lead, 13-12, on a hard-hit kill off the hands of Mark Kawecki '17, one of his career-high 22 on the night. From there, however, the Lions pulled away en route to a 25-19 win.
 
The second set was all Penn State Behrend in the early goings, as the Lions raced out to a 12-3 lead, which would eventually turn into a 19-12 advantage. However, Elmira pieced together a 10-3 run to knot things up at 22-22 behind the efforts of Kawecki, who floored four of his six second-set kills. Unfortunately, EC was unable to complete the comeback as a trio of Soaring Eagle errors handed the Lions the second set, 25-22, and a 2-sets-to-0 lead.
 
All of the momentum rested with the Lions after their second-set win, which was reflected in the early stages of the third set in which Penn State Behrend jumped out to an 8-3 advantage. Elmira answered with a 6-0 run, five of which were earned while Dan Symer '19 was at the service line, to take a 9-8 lead. Symer, Kawecki and Matthew Buffum '18 each logged a kill during EC's run.
 
From that point on, both teams traded point for point with neither side leading by more than one until Ryan McDonough '18 registered back-to-back kills to put the Purple and Gold on top, 20-18. Penn State responded with a timeout and collected two consecutive points to level the score at 20-all.
 
The teeter-totter nature of the third set continued with a kill by Kawecki and a monster block from Matt Straney '20 and Symer, which put EC out in front, 22-20. EC's lead was short-lived though, as Derek Kuhn and Trenton Munk floored back-to-back kills for the Lions to tie the set at 22-22.
 
Another kill by Kawecki gave EC a 23-22 lead but a kill from Munk, paired with an Elmira attack error, gave the Lions their first match point of the evening, 24-23. With the match on the line EC turned to its lone senior, Kawecki, who delivered with a routine kill on an assist from Branigan to even the score at 24-apiece. The following two points ended in a ball handling error by Penn State Behrend's Calvin Nowicki and another kill from Kawecki, as the Purple and Gold completed the comeback, 26-24, to pull to within one set of the Lions.
 
In the fourth set, Elmira looked to be in the driver's seat early on by taking leads of 9-5 and 14-11. The Soaring Eagles maintained their advantage for most of the fourth set and would eventually go up 20-18. From there on, Penn State Behrend won seven of the final eight points, including the last four, to secure the set at 25-21 and earn an all-important four-set UVC victory.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Penn State Behrend outhit Elmira in terms of attack percentage, .325-to-.204.
• EC compiled a team-best .324 attack percentage (17k-5e-37ta) in the third set.
• The Lions hit above .300 in each of the first three sets, including a match-high .375-percent clip (17k-5e-32ta) in the third.
• PSB finished with a slight lead in blocks, 9.0-to-8.0.
• Kawecki paced all players with 22 kills and was tied for the match lead with 12 digs.
• Kawecki also led Elmira with a .400 attack percentage (22k-4e-45ta).
• McDonough also posted double-digit kills for Elmira with 13 to go along with five digs, four assists, two aces, and two blocks.
• Branigan, who filled in as EC's setter, dished out a career-high 40 assists.
• Three different Soaring Eagles collected a team-high four total blocks: Branigan, Buffum, and Straney.
• Penn State Behrend was led by Hildebrand and Munk with 16 kills apiece.
• Munk hit at a match-high .682 percent, having committed just a single error on 22 attempts.
• Munk's seven total blocks were also a match high.

 
News and Notes

• EC will need to defeat No.9-ranked NYU and No.13 MIT in its final UVC matches on April 1 if it hopes to qualify for the conference tournament.
• Kawecki produced a career-high 22 kills and for a third straight match finished in double figures, a season-long streak.
• Kawecki's double-double was his third of the season and the sixth of his collegiate career.
• Buffum has hit above .350 in fifth consecutive matches and in six of his last seven.
• Branigan's 40 assists are a career high, marking his first match with more than three assists as he filled the team's setter role.
• McDonough recorded double-digit kills for the 16th time this season, while tying a season-long streak with his third consecutive match in double figures.

 
Up Next
Elmira will have some time to recover from today's setback, as the Soaring Eagles are not back in action until Saturday, April 1, when EC travels to the Big Apple for a critical UVC tri-match against nationally-ranked opposition. The Elmira men will clash with ninth-ranked NYU at 11:00 a.m., before concluding conference play with a 1:30 p.m. showdown against 13th-ranked MIT.