CHESTER, Pa. - The Widener men's volleyball team came up short in a pair of matches against No. 6 Stevens and No. 11 Stevenson in a MAC tri-match Saturday at Schwartz Athletic Center.
Stevenson topped the Pride in the first game in straight sets, 26-24, 25-21, 25-21. In the second match, Pride fell to Stevens, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23.
The Pride are now 5-10 on the season and 1-7 in conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED AGAINST STEVENSON
- The Pride played tough and never let the Mustangs have a lead of more than nine points in each set. The Pride pushed the Mustangs to the brink of defeat in the opening game after by rallying from a 15-6 deficit to tie the set at 18.
- Then, the two teams kept exchanging points until the Pride tied the set at 24-all with a kill from Matthew Christ. However, the Pride allowed Stevenson to score the final two points on a block error and an ace to win it.
- In the second set, the Pride held a 7-6 lead over the Mustangs after Dylan Beer made a kill. However, Stevenson went on an 8-2 run to take a 14-9 lead that they would not let go.
- In the third set, Widener went back and forth with Stevenson, as it tied the Mustangs at 18 following a kill from Christ. Unfortunately, Stevenson scored six of the next seven points to take a 24-19 lead. The Pride managed to tally two more points on a pair of Mustangs' errors before the visitors came away with the win.
- Christ and Declan Quinn tallied 11 kills on the day, keeping the Mustang defense on its toes. Christ also scored off the ace four times in the match.
- Josh Matchett helped the offense by adding 29 assists.
- Defensively, libero Cole Nagle led the team with seven digs and Beer led the team in blocks with four.
HOW IT HAPPENED AGAINST STEVENS
- The Pride was able to hang tough and keep the score within nine points in the match.
- The Pride played extremely well in the opening set, as they tied the Ducks at 23 after Beer made a kill. However, the Ducks scored the final two points on a pair of Pride attack errors to take the set.
- After dropping the second set, the Pride held a 12-8 advantage over the Ducks in the third set after going on a 5-2 run. Unfortunately, the Mustangs went on an 11-4 run to take a 19-16 lead.
- From there, the Pride trimmed the deficit to one five times, but the Ducks answered with a point every time to prevent Widener from tying the game and eventually won it on a kill.
- Christ led the team in kills with eight. Beer added seven and Quinn had six kills on the day.
- Matchett put up another 20-plus assist total in this match, tallying 25 for the Pride..
- Carter Tran stepped in the libero role for this match and helped the Pride defense with four digs.
UP NEXT
The Pride are on the road as they travel to Reading to play Alvernia in another MAC match up on Tuesday. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
