SALEM, Va.—The Elizabethtown men's volleyball team swept Bridgewater (Va.) before falling to host Roanoke in a five-set thriller. Senior,
Logan Smith set a new program record of 772 total career kills surpassing Steve Swain's '23 record of 757.
GAME 1: ELIZABETHTOWN 3, BRIDGEWATER 0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-15)
Samuel Ulrich led the team with eight kills as he hit .889.
Declan Keller,
Hugh Rogers, and Reid Mass all tallied six kills each. Rogers also totaled 23 assists while
Bailey Durofchalk totaled 11.
Set one was close to start until Etown went on a 7-1 run to jump to a 20-15 lead. Three straight from the Blue Jays brought them within set-point before the Eagles recorded their final point. An Eagle error ended the set with a 25-18 Blue Jay win.
Set two saw a similar start with the two teams trading points. The Blue Jays rattle off six straight with the help from
Cole Burkhardt and Rogers to lead, 17-13. Six in a row from Etown ended the set, 25-16.
Bridgewater started off set three with an 8-4 lead. Etown went on a 10-1 run to jump ahead 14-9. Kills from Ulrich, Durofchalk, Rogers, and Keller ended the match, 25-15.
GAME 2: ROANOKE 3, ELIZABETHTOWN 2 (30-28, 28-30, 16-25, 25-22, 19-21)
Arun Gopinath led the match with a double-double of 24 kills (.389) and 10 digs.
Patrick Neyer also recorded a double-double of 42 assists and 16 digs.
Mason Boyer totaled a double-double of 15 kills and 14 digs while Smith contributed 15 kills enroute to breaking the program career kills' record.
Dustin Hagin tied a career-high 22 digs.
Etown took set one 30-28 before Roanoke took the second set by an identical score of 30-28. Set one was close throughout, but Etown was able to lead by five at 17-12 midway through the set. The rest of the set went back-n-forth as Roanoke forced the extra points after tying up the set at 24-24. Three in a row from the Blue Jays ended the set 30-28.
Roanoke tied up the match at 1-1 after the second set before winning the third set, 25-16 to lead the match 2-1. Etown led the fourth set early and was able to hold on to earn the 25-22 win tying up the match 2-2.
Roanoke quickly forced the eight-point switch in the fifth set as they led, 8-2. The Blue Jays tied up the set 9-9 after three straight. Etown had match point following a kill from Smith at 14-13 but the Maroons tied it up at 14-14. After trading points the Maroons grabbed the final three points to win, 21-19.
