BRYN ATHYN, Pa – The men's volleyball program at Bryn Athyn College continue their hunt for the program's first playoff berth with a 3-1 win over visiting Saint Elizabeth on Saturday night. The team moves to 8-10 overall and 2-0 in conference play. This is the first time in the program's four years that the Lions remain undefeated through two United East matches.

Set Scores

• Bryn Athyn defeated Saint Elizabeth 26-24,  25-21,  24-26,  25-20

• Shepard would lead all with 23 kills while also registering 15 digs in the match.
• Choute's 15 kills would be second best among both teams.
• Reuter contributed to the offense with 5 kills.
• Atai Esenov notched 18 assists.
• Laban Genzlinger dished out 17 of his own.

With the score at 7-7, an Eagles service error and two straight kills by Miles Shepard would help open up a 10-7 lead for the Lions. Costly attacking and serving errors in the first set would allow the Eagles to keep pace, as the Lions would slam home 16 kills, but give up 10 points on hitting errors in the process. Saint Elizabeth would only register 7 kills, but did so on 2 errors to help make it a 24-24 score near the end of the set. Setter Atai Esenov would find Shepard for back-to-back kills, finishing set one with a 26-24 win.

Early in the second set with the score tied at 5-5, an ace by Esenov and a string of solid serves would help the Lions gain a 9-5 advantage. The Eagles would climb back to a 14-14 tie, but a kill by Owen Reuter , assisted by setter Laban Genzlinger , and two Eagles attacking errors would would put Bryn Athyn up 17-14. Once again, Saint Elizabeth would close the gap to 18-17 off a service ace by Jonathan Mundaray before missing the next from the service line. An ace from Bryan Choute and a kill by Laban Genzlinger would help the Lions to a 23-17 advantage. On the final play of the set, libero  Adan Rodriguez-Sapien set up Miles Shepard for the kill to win by a score of 25-21.

Three kills by Shepard would help the Lions start 5-0, but the Eagles would be resilient and go on a 10-5 run to tie the game at 10-10. With the score 15-14, Saint Elizabeth would get a kill from Mundaray and two straight kills from Kennedy Ibezim to gain a 17-15 advantage. Choute would register two kills in a row, bringing the score to 17-17. The teams would trade possessions until a kill by Mundaray gave Saint Elizabeth a 24-23 advantage. The teams would trade points and with the advantage at 25-24, Mundaray would finish the set with another one of his seven total kills to win 26-24.

The Lions would come out roaring in the fourth set, with three kills from Shepard and two kills from Choute pacing their way to a 10-2 lead. At 13-6, Choute would get another one of his 15 kills in the match to open up a three-point run. Reuter would get set up from the back row by Rodriguez-Sapien for a kill to put the Lions ahead 19-10. The difference would prove to be too much to overcome, and Bryn Athyn would cap the set win at 25-20 with a kill by Shepard.Adan Rodriguez played an excellent game from the back court for the Lions, tallying 16 digs and handing out 7 assists in the match.

"We took control when we really needed to tonight," said head coach Jason Barshinger. "There were some areas where we got away from what makes us successful, and that opened up opportunities against us. We're still a young team, but I'm seeing the growth mindset every day. We just need to keep working and staying hungry."

Notes

• Bryn Athyn finished with 47 kills on an 11.1% attack to Saint Elizabeth's 28 kills with a 6.8% attack.
• The Lions outpaced the Eagles in points, kills, assists, and digs for the match.

Bryn Athyn will return home to face Neumann University in their third conference match of the season. The game is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12 at 7:00 pm at the Asplundh Field House.