Score: Elmira College 3, No. 5 Dominican University 2 (25-18, 26-28, 25-23, 17-25, 15-10)
Score: Mount St. Joseph University 3, Elmira College 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-20)
Records: Elmira (6-3), Dominican (4-2), Mount St. Joseph (5-3)
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio -- Harrington Center

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Elmira College men's volleyball team split Friday's tri-match against a pair of nationally-ranked teams, as the Soaring Eagles topped No. 5 Dominican University (Ill.) in five sets, before falling 3-0 to the host Lions of No. 12 Mount St. Joseph University.

The victory over the fifth-ranked Stars was the first win over a nationally-ranked opponent for the Soaring Eagles since defeating No. 11 Rutgers University-Newark in the second match of the 2017 season, and it marks the first time Elmira has beaten a top-5 team since the Purple and Gold won a 3-2 decision against No. 5 University of California, Santa Cruz on January 30, 2014.

Elmira's offense was clicking against the Stars. As a team, the Soaring Eagles produced a .324 hitting percentage, which included a near-perfect rate of .909 in the decisive fifth set. In addition, every Soaring Eagle, except for setter Jeremy Best '19 and libero Colin Morrison '19, produced double-digit kills. Ryan McDonough '19 paced EC with 18 kills in the match, followed by Dan Symer '19 and Matthew Buffum '18 with 13 and 12, respectively. Jose Malave '21 and Landon Miller '20 each logged 11 kills, which marked a season-best for Miller. 

Orchestrating the EC offense was Best, who turned in one of the most exceptional performances of his career. He amassed a career-high 62 assists, tied for the third-most in program history and the most in a single match since Carlos Faccio '16 set the program record with 68 against California Lutheran University in February of 2016. Best also picked up seven digs to go along with four kills and three blocks.

In the fifth set, EC recorded kills on 10 of its 11 attacks without committing an error, resulting in a whopping .909 hitting percentage. The Soaring Eagles rolled out to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set, giving the team the momentum it needed to close out the thrilling victory. After EC posted three consecutive kills to open the set, McDonough served one of Elmira's five aces to extend the lead to 4-0. Once the Soaring Eagles increased the gap to 11-6 on a McDonough kill, the Stars were unable to come within four points of the EC lead for the remainder of the set.

Despite an impressive showing in the first match, the Soaring Eagles were unable to carry over the momentum into the nightcap against Mount St. Joseph. Although Elmira held onto a 14-12 lead in the first set, it surrendered the next 10 points to the Lions, which all but secured a 25-18 loss. Mount St. Joseph used another late run in the middle set, quickly turning a 17-all tie into a 21-17 advantage. Even in the third set, the Soaring Eagles found themselves deadlocked at 11-11, but were unable to maintain their composure and gave up seven of the next eight points, a deficit that proved to be too large to overcome. Symer was the only Soaring Eagle to posted double-digit kills against the Lions, as he picked up a team-high 12 in the contest.

In Their Own Words...
Head Coach Daniel Miranda on the victory over the fifth-ranked Stars...
"It was a huge win for us. Guys really stepped up to another level for that match. It was a glimpse at the potential that we know we have and know we will reach. The only way to get there is through consistency, and we struggled with that at all levels for the second match. The guys know we will need to step up again tomorrow and I am excited to see how they respond."

New and Notes

• Elmira is 6-3 overall this season after splitting its matches on Friday night.
• The win over No. 5 Dominican is the first over a ranked opponent since EC's 3-2 triumph against No. 11 Rutgers-Newark on January 20, 2017.
• EC hit above .300 as a team for the fourth time this season against the Stars but surrendered a season-worst .407 hitting percentage to the Lions.
• Best's 62 assists are a career-high and are tied for the third-most by a Soaring Eagle in program history.
• McDonough earned his second double-double of the season with 18 kills and 12 digs against the Stars.
• Symer earned his third double-double of the year against Dominican with 13 kills and 10 digs.
• Miller knocked down a season-high 11 kills in the win over the fifth-ranked Stars.

Up Next
The EC men will conclude their four-match road trip in Ohio at the 2018 Power Weekend, hosted by Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. The Soaring Eagles will begin the tournament against Penn State Altoona at 11:00 a.m., before facing Marian University at 3:00 p.m.