MEN’S VOLLEYBALL DOWNS No. 11 ELMIRA, 3-1

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Sophomore outside hitter Ashanti Jackson (Sacramento, Calif.) slammed home a match-high 18 kills to lead the Emmanuel College Men's Volleyball team past No. 11 Elmira, 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18), Sunday afternoon at the Baruch College Invitational. With the victory, the Saints improve to 4-8 on the year while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 9-8.

Emmanuel jumped ahead to the early 1-0 lead in by taking the opening set, 25-19. The Saints held the Soaring Eagles to just a .133 hitting percentage while EC swung away at a healthy .286 clip.

While the Saints improved their hitting percentage to .357 in the second set, Elmira was on fire as they would register a .571 clip, smashing down 17 kills on 28 attempts with just one error en route to a 25-21 win to even the match at 1 set a piece.

Emmanuel responded with a gutsy 25-23 victory in the third set to take control of the match and followed it up with a 25-18 win in the fourth set to notch their fourth win of the year.

Jackson finished the day with a .389 hitting percentage to go along with seven digs. Senior setter Nick Updike ran a balanced offense by dishing out 47 assists while also collecting five digs, four kills and four aces. Freshman middle hitter Julian Hess () was strong in the middle with eight kills on 15 attempts.

For the Soaring Eagles, junior outside hitter Ryan Gelenitis (Brick, N.J.) notched a team-high 13 kills while freshman outside hitter Erik Griffin (Victor, N.Y.) chipped in with 12 kills.

Updike was named to the All-Tournament team for his performance over the weekend. EC will return to action on Saturday when they head to Springfield, Mass. to take on No. 1 Springfield College at 5:00 PM.

FINAL STANDINGS
Nazareth 4-0
Stevens 3-1
Stevenson 3-1
Vassar 3-1
Baruch 2-2
M.I.T. 2-2
Elmira 1-3
Kean 1-3
Emmanuel 1-3
Rivier 0-4

MVP
E.J. Wells-Spicer, Nazareth

FIRST TEAM
Kevin Aeckerle, Stevens
Matt Elgin, Vassar
Austin Jacoby, Stevenson
Robert Kraft, Nazareth
Jack McKee, Baruch

SECOND TEAM
Aaron Almario, Rivier
Matt Hohenberger, M.I.T.
Nick Updike, Emmanuel
Steve Vahalla, Kean
Michael Velleutatol, Elmira