ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team picked up a statement win on Wednesday afternoon with a 3-2 triumph against No. 14 ranked St. John Fisher College inside Speidel Gymnasium. With the win, Elmira snaps a seven-match losing streak against the Cardinals which dated back to March 24, 2018 while picking up its first win against a ranked opponent since the 2018 season.
 
The Soaring Eagles attacked for 54 kills and 11 blocks in the match (both season-highs) while fighting back from 2-1 down in the match to claim victory with a 15-10 fifth set win.
 
Alberto Mauricio '25 paced Elmira with 15 kills, while three others reached double-figures as Oscar Munoz Trinidad '23 (12), Jordan Peiser '24 (11), and Edwin Sosa '25 (10) all contributed heavily to the ledger. Additionally, Sosa added five service aces, four blocks, and a .714 hitting percentage to go along with his block tally.

JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 3, No. 14 Fisher 2
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
RECORDS: Elmira (13-10, 2-3 UVC), Hilbert (16-7, 3-2 UVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles came out firing on all cylinders in the opening set while hitting .357% as a team with 13 kills. Leading 6-5, the Purple & Gold used a four-point swing with Peiser at the service position to jump out to a 10-5 lead. From there, the Cardinals would pull within a pair of points before a Fisher service error a two straight service aces from Sosa put the home team ahead 17-12.
 
From there, the teams would trade points back-and-forth before the Soaring Eagles received a service error from Matt Cieplicki to take the first set 25-20.
 
In the second, the Cardinals would storm back for a 25-21 victory after edging EC in the hitting percentage column. Fisher trailed just once in the set after Elmira took a 2-1 lead, using a four-point stretch to break a 15-15 tie in route to tying the match at 1-1.
 
In the third, Elmira held the lead for the first half of the set before the Cardinals came back to tie the match at 16-16. From there, the Soaring Eagles would jump out to a 23-19 lead before surrendering the final six points of the set as Fisher took a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Playing from behind didn't seem to be an issue for the Soaring Eagles, as they came out and hit a dominant .481% in the fourth set compared to just .172% for the Cardinals. After cruising to the largest set victory of the evening (25-14), Elmira came out and posted its greatest hitting percentage of the evening (.538%), taking the fifth-set thriller 15-10.

UP NEXT:
Elmira will hit the road this weekend for a trio of matches on the campus of SUNY Potsdam. After taking on Sage Friday, the Soaring Eagles will be back in action on Saturday with a pair of games against D'Youville and Potsdam.