POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team traveled to Poughkeepsie, NY for a conference contest with the Brewers of Vassar College on Saturday afternoon. The Soaring Eagles battled but fell in three sets to Vassar College in the first conference game of the season.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Luke Jata picked up a kill on the first rally of the game to give EC the early advantage. The Brewers followed by scoring three consecutive points. A kill by Gabriel Staron slowed down the run and gave some momentum back to the Soaring Eagles. Staron got another kill a few points later to tie up the opening set at five. Back-to-back kills by Dylan Vargas put the Soaring Eagles ahead 8-7. The first set continued to swing back and forth, Ethan Davenport getting a kill to give EC a 12-11 advantage. The Brewers answered with three points in a row, followed with a kill by Drake Connors to even up the score at 14. A slight scoring run from Vassar was slowed on a kill by Erik Ziemblicki cutting the deficit to one point. The Soaring Eagles went on a three-point scoring run, capped off by a Staron kill, tying up the set at 20. Another kill by Staron, part of a five kill first set for him, evened the score at 23. The Brewers claimed back-to-back points and the opening set 25-23.

The second set started with another kill by Staron as Elmira pulled ahead early once again. A service ace by Jata put EC up 3-2 early in the set. Vassar scored eight out of nine points to grab momentum away from Elmira. A kill and service ace from Staron slowed down the Brewers scoring run. Vassar scored three consecutive points to grab a 17-9 advantage. Drake Connors picked up a kill to slow down the Brewers again. Vassar ended the second set on a four-point scoring run, claiming the set 25-14 and a two-to-nothing advantage. Vassar scored the opening point of the third set. A kill from Jata evened up the score right away. The Brewers answered with three consecutive points. Two straight kills from Staron and a service ace by Davenport tied up the score at five. Kills by Davenport and Jata gave the Soaring Eagles momentum and evened the score at 11. The Brewers responded with three consecutive points. Elmira answered right back, getting kills by Connors and Staron to pull ahead 16-15. Two straight kills from Staron brought the Soaring Eagles within one point. Two kills by Jata, part of a five kill third set, brought the deficit down to 23-21. The Brewers claimed the final two points needed to win the third set and claim the match 3-0.

LEADERS
Staron led the way with 13 kills, tallying an ace and three digs as well. Jata picked up nine kills, a pair of aces, and recorded four digs. Nick Rohman totaled 26 assists.

UP NEXT
The Soaring Eagles travel to Newton, MA on Thursday, March 5^th for a non-conference matchup with the Lasers of Lasell University. The match is set to start at 6:00 PM.