POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Elmira College men's volleyball took the first set of its match against No. 10 Vassar, 28-26. Jordan Peiser '24 posted a career-high 24 kills while recording a .333 hitting percentage during the contest.

JUST THE BASICS:
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY | Kenyon Hall
Score: Elmira: 1, No. 10 Vassar: 3
Records: Elmira: (6-6, 0-2 UVC), Vassar (14-3, 3-0 UVC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Soaring Eagles started the match well, taking an early 11-8 lead against the Brewers. However, after four consecutive points for the hosts, Vassar took the lead. Vassar held an 18-14 advantage before both teams traded the following nine points. With the Soaring Eagles trailing 22-18, they tallied four straight points to tie the match. From that point, neither team could end the round with 25 points, and they went into extra sets. The Soaring Eagles trailed 26-25 before three consecutive Elmira points secured the first-set victory. Peiser led the Soaring Eagles with seven kills, while Edwin Sosa '25 and Luke Jata '27 had three.
• The second set was tightly contested for most of the round, with Elmira trailing 11-10 before a 5-1 Brewer run saw the deficit increase to five. EC cut the host's lead to 18-15 later in the set before the Purple & Gold rattled off four straight points, giving themselves a 19-18 advantage. However, they only managed to score one more point from that point and dropped the second set 25-20. Peiser once again led the Soaring Eagles with six kills in the set.
• Elmira held an 11-8 lead in the third set, receiving a pair of kills from Peiser and Jake Suffa '25. However, the Brewers scored four of the following five points to tie the game at 12. After a kill by Jata gave the Soaring Eagles the lead again, the Brewers went on a 3-0 run, giving them a two-point advantage. Later in the set, EC notched four unanswered points to take a 23-20 lead, aided by a Sosa kill and service ace. Despite this run, Vassar scored the following five points of the match, taking the third set 25-23. Peiser paced the Soaring Eagles with five kills in the set.
• The Soaring Eagles fell behind early in the fourth set, trailing 2-7 after four consecutive Brewers points. Elmira could not get back into the match and dropped the fourth set, 25-17. Peiser tallied a team-best six kills in the set.
• The Soaring Eagles hit at a .306 clip in the first set but could not maintain that level of offense, hitting .061, .194, and .0 in the final three sets.
• Elmira led the Brewers 50 kills to 49 during the match while notching five service aces to Vassar's six. 
• Peiser led the team in kills with 24, service aces with four, and finished second in digs with 10.

UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles stay on the road when they travel to St. Joseph's University - Long Island on Saturday, March 2, and take part in a tri-match against Lancaster Bible and SJLI at times to be announced.