ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Two teams came in to challenge the Elizabethtown College men's volleyball team on its home court Saturday in the team's tri-match with visiting Wilson and Mount Union. The Blue Jays took care of the Phoenix in three sets and came back to defeat the Purple Raiders in five after trailing 2-0. Nick Baxter tallied 33 kills on the day to lead E-town. Orion Lage had a team-high 14 digs in the Mount Union match.

Elizabethtown (7-14) took it to Wilson (4-7) starting in the first set, hitting .360 and committing just one attacking error. The Blue Jays were off to a 1-0 lead after a 25-14 opening set victory. The Phoenix made it interesting over the next two sets, but E-town withstood Wilson to sweep the match.

Baxter, Ethan Maurer, and Joey Nelson combined for 36 of the team's 41 kills in the match. Baxter led with a team-high 16. He also had five aces, five blocks, and 14 digs to lead Elizabethtown against his former team. Tim Zieber added 33 assists.

E-town and Mount Union (7-14) met for the second time this season. The Purple Raiders had gotten the better of the Blue Jays at the Misericordia tournament in early February, but the result was different this time around.

Despite MTU getting out 2-0 in the match, the Jays responded with a critical 25-23 third set win.

Maurer put EC up by four late in the third set, 22-18, but three straight points by the visitors brought it to within one. Coach Alex Hinsey decided to call a timeout to settle down the troops. Out of the timeout, Maurer laid down another kill to get Elizabethtown within two points of the set victory. Mark Bruns would tie it at 23-23, but Nelson's kill from a Zieber pass and an attacking error on Mount Union allowed the Jays to get the set and climb back into the match, 2-1.

Once again, E-town led late in the fourth set and closed it out. Zieber fed Baxter for the point to make it 24-20 for the Blue Jays. Though the Purple Raiders got the next two points, a service error ended the set and sent the match to the decisive fifth set.

Mount Union led through nine points, but Elizabethtown was the first to reach eight as the teams switched sides to finish out the set. Sitting at a 12-9 lead, Steven Schreffler was able to get his team a point closer to the match victory with a kill to make it 13-9. A ball handling error on Bruns made it match point and Baxter finished it off with a kill to give Elizabethtown a pair of wins on the day.

The men's volleyball team return to CVC action on Wednesday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Ramapo in Mahwah, N.J.