ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team battled against the No. 7 ranked Hawks from New Paltz on Friday evening in UVC play, but came up just short in a five-set thriller as the Soaring Eagles looked for its sixth-straight victory. After trailing two sets to one, the Purple & Gold put on a dominant performance to force a fifth set before falling 15-7 in the finale.

The Soaring Eagles were led by Jordan Peiser '24, who went for a career-best 18 kills while Alberto Mauricio '25 added 13 to the ledger as Elmira recorded 43 kills as a team on the night.

JUST THE BASICS (MATCH ONE):
SCORE: Elmira 2, No. 7 New Paltz 3
LOCATION: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
RECORDS: Elmira (16-11, 2-4 UVC), New Paltz (18-5, 6-0 UVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Both teams came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, which in the end belonged to New Paltz, 25-21. In the set, the Soaring Eagles hit .333% compared to .500% for the Hawks, with Peiser (4) and Mauricio (3) recording all of Elmira's seven kills in the set. After the Hawks edged out to an 8-4 lead while the Soaring Eagles were working out some kinks, the Purple & Gold battled back to cut its lead to one before New Paltz scored four consecutive points to regain the lead at 13-8. The Soaring Eagles found themselves down by as many as six (19-13) before charging back to score six of the next nine points, cutting the deficit to just three. From there, New Paltz would take the set on a kill from Brendan Spulnick to capture the opening set and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Elmira was able to bounce back and take the second set in dominant fashion, 25-16, as the Hawks were only able to convert on seven kills on 21 attempts. The Soaring Eagles began the set by taking a quick 5-1 lead and never looked back, using a six-point tilt to increase its lead to 19-11 nearing the end of the set. Elmira was able to eventually cap the set by scoring five of the final seven points, which included kills from Edwin Sosa '25 and Ryan Mattes '23, along with an attacking error from Spulnick to cap the set.

Tied at 1-1, the teams battled once again, but it was New Paltz who took its second set of the night by the same score as the first, 25-21. In the set, the Soaring Eagles were held to a hitting percentage of just .261%, while the Hawks got back on track by upping its percentage to .429. The set features six ties and a pair of lead changes.

Trailing 2-1, the Soaring Eagles were able to bounce back once again to force its second consecutive UVC five-setter after another dominant 25-17 set victory. In the frame, Elmira attacking percentage was its lowest of the evening (.042), but the Hawks were in the negatives at -.039%. Just like the second set, EC jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage and didn't look back. Leading 17-12, the Soaring Eagles relied heavily on Pesier who was able to record a pair of kills and a service ace as part of the 4-0 EC run. After the Hawks scored a pair of points late, it was Tim Drake who recorded a service error which sent the match to the fifth set.

The Soaring Eagles struggled to get it going in the set, forcing Daniel Miranda to call a pair of early timeouts with the visitor leading 8-3. From there, the Hawks maintained momentum on their way to a 15-7 fifth-set victory to take the match 3-2.

UP NEXT:
Elmira returns to the floor tomorrow for a pair of games against Bard (10:00 AM) and Juniata (4:00 PM) as part of Senior Day. The recognition ceremony for Matt Amoddio '22 and Alex Adelman '22 will be held just before the 4:00 PM match against Juniata.