DALLS, Pa. – Elizabethtown College men's volleyball split in its first weekend road trip falling to host Misericordia, 3-0, and topping D'Youville 3-0, Saturday afternoon.
 
With the split, the Blue Jays move to 6-3 on the season.
 
Senior Nick Baxter combined to hit .471 with 24 kills while freshman Steve Swain was .381 with 16 kills. Sophomore Tim Zeiber (29) and freshman Dan Barckholtz (25) combined for 54 assists and freshman Blake Hildebrand finished with 17 digs, including a career-high 14 against D'Youville.

ELIZABETHTOWN 3, MISERICORDIA 0 (25-23, 25-16, 26-24)

• SET ONE: After falling behind by one (0-9) midway through the first, the Blue Jays rattled off three straight points, highlighted by a kill from Swain, to move ahead, 12-10. Elizabethtown increased its lead to three (17-14) after another 3-0 rally, before the Cougars closed within one at 17-16 and then again at 18-17. The Blue Jays then looked prepared to close out the opening set, holding a 23-20 advantage, but Misericordia took back the advantage, rattling off the final five points for the 25-23 win.
• SET TWO: Elizabethtown started the second set in similar fashion, falling behind 7-4. The Blue Jays then came alive with a 5-0 run, capped off by a kill from Hildebrand to take a 9-7 lead. The Cougars, however, answered with an 11-3 rally to go up by eight (18-12). Misericordia continued to hold the momentum in the second set, cruising to the 2-0 lead, 25-16.
• SET THREE: The final set of the opening match was a back-and-forth affair. Elizabethtown to an 18-16 lead late, before the home team rattled off six straight points to move ahead 22-18. The Blue Jays answered and crawled back to game point (24-23) after Hildebrand and freshman Cheston Jacobs combined for the block. Misericordia collected themselves after the visitors push, scoring the final three points to take the straight-set win, 26-24.

 
ELIZABETHTOWN 3, D'YOUVILLE 0 (25-9, 27-25, 25-14)

• SET ONE: The Blue Jays dominated from start to finish in the opening set of their second match of the day, topping the Spartans, 25-9, in the first. Elizabethtown hit .375 in the set with 11 kills and only two errors to make light work of D'Youville.
• SET TWO: The second set was a complete different story from the first, as the two teams sat at a deadlock at 13-13 midway through the stanza. The Blue Jays managed to moved ahead by three (20-17) after a D'Youville service, before the Spartans squared the match at 20 after three straight points. The Spartans looked to tie the match at one, holding game point at 24-23, but Elizabethtown responded, finishing the second on a 4-1 run to move ahead 2-0 with the 27-25 win.
• SET THREE: The Blue Jays immediately jumped into the driver seat of the final set, scoring the first five points, highlighted by two kills from Baxter and one from Hildebrand. Elizabethtown continued to press, pushing its advantage to eight (14-6) after Barckholtz found Hildebrand for the kill. Barckholtz followed up this assists shortly after with a kill of his own to push the lead to 21-10 as the Blue Jays wrapped up its sixth win of the season, 25-14 in its final match of the afternoon.

 
 

• NEXT MATCH
  Elizabethtown returns home for its True Blue match against Randolph-Macon on Friday, Feb. 7. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m.