CHESTER, Pa. – Widener men's volleyball suffered their first two losses of the year against the Baruch College Bobcats and the Eastern Mennonite University Royals on Saturday. It was the Pride's first tri-match of the season.

Widener is 2-2 through their first week of action, and they still have not faced a MAC opponent at this time.

HOW IT HAPPENED AGAINST BARUCH

Across the four sets, the Pride recorded 22 digs and 33 kills. All of the Pride's 27 assists came from Josh Matchett. The team had a .116 hitting percentage, with Matchett leading the way at .571.

For the first set, both sides would not allow the other to get too far ahead. Early on, it was 3-3, with each side answering the other's points. After the Bobcats ripped off six straight points, the Pride countered with seven of their own. The last six points of that run were Matthew Christ service aces. Widener got their 11^th and 12^th points off of Baruch service errors. At the end of the set, a 6-1 run gave the Pride the win, 25-19.

Despite the Pride being down 8-3 through the beginning portion of the second set, they were able to register a few kills from Dylan Beer. Widener used the second Beer kill to launch a 9-1 to make the score 12-9. At 15-15, the Pride were able to get on the board with two attack errors and a service error from the Bobcats. A 6-1 run, however, ended the set at 25-21 in favor of Baruch.
Now tied at one match a piece, the Pride earned a 2-0 lead off of a Baruch attack error and a Christ kill. The Bobcats were able to counter Widener's offense throughout the third set as well. Later, Widener went up 11-8 thanks to a Matchett service ace. To return the favor, though, the Bobcats answered with six consecutive points. An 8-3 Baruch run gave them the win at the end of the set, 25-19.

This was the Pride's first match of the season to go beyond three sets. Widener got on the board first with another kill from Christ. Trying to build momentum, they constructed a 4-1 run moments later to make the score 6-3 Widener. Tied at 9-9, the Pride matched a Baruch point three straight times. With a 4-0 run in hand to go up 21-19, the Pride were not able to defend the Bobcats' final offensive outbursts. The visitors walked away with a 25-23 victory in the final set. Baruch won the match three sets to one.

HOW IT HAPPENED AGAINST EASTERN MENNONITE

Christ was the only player for the Pride to record double-digit kills (11); Beer was right behind with five. Ethan Cox had three of his team's eight service aces. The Pride registered a .096 hitting percentage.

To start the match, Cox made an early statement with a service ace. Similar to the Baruch series, though, Eastern Mennonite was toe-to-toe with Widener for a chunk of the set. With the score tied at 12, Widener earned a 4-1 run courtesy of two Christ kills and two attack errors from the Royals. The two sides were tied once again 20-20 before the Pride came up just short to finish the set. The visiting Royals narrowly got the win in the first set, 25-23.

In the second set, the Royals got out to an early 3-1 lead. That was erased, however, with an Eastern Mennonite attack error and back-to-back Michael Martino service aces. Despite the Pride keeping things close, they never got the lead back after leading 5-4. However, the Pride did make one last effort at the conclusion of the set with three consecutive points to have the score go from 24-17 to 24-20. Eastern Mennonite went up 2-0 in the match with a 25-20 win in the second set.

The first three points of the final set were for the Pride, as Beer started with a kill and Cox recorded consecutive service aces. Nonetheless, the Royals climbed back in the game and tied the score at eight. Cox and Beer gave the Pride two kills in the next few serves to keep the score close. With Eastern Mennonite leading 18-14, the Pride got three straight points off errors from their opponent and a Matchett service ace. Despite trailing by just one point for the last serves, the Royals got the 25-23 victory. It was a sweep for the visitors.

UP NEXT
The Pride have off for a few days before taking the court on Saturday in another tri-match. They will host Union at 11 a.m. and Brooklyn at 3 p.m.