Men's Volleyball Picks Up Two Wins Over EMU

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The No. 15 Elms College men's volleyball team picked up a pair of 3-0 wins over Eastern Mennonite University to wrap up its opening weekend of the 2019 season.

Elms improves to 2-1 overall while EMU is 0-2.

GAME 1 – ELMS 3, EMU 0
Elms held EMU to a .000 hitting percentage in the first half of the double-header, while hitting .206 en route to the 25-20, 25-20, 25-16 victory.

Jake Johnson led the Blazers with nine kills and just one error and a .471 hitting percentage. Daniel Martinez added eight kills for Elms and John Dunphy had 18 assists. Carlos Mercado added 14 assists and 10 digs for Elms, and Jovanny Torres led all players with 11 digs.

Travis Abele had a match-high 10 kills for EMU but needed 30 swings and also had seven errors, hitting .100 for the contest. Sean Wright had nine digs and Wyatt Bollinger finished with 12 assists for EMU.

GAME 2 – ELMS 3, EMU 0
David Hernandez led Elms with nine kills and added six digs while hitting .438 in the match as the Blazers picked up their second win of the day, a 25-15, 25-22, 25-17 victory.

Mercado and Dunphy each finished with 15 assists and Dunphy served up two of Elms' three aces in the match. Jovanny Torres added eight kills and eight digs for Elms while Johnson and Luis Martinez each added six kills.

Elms hit .241 in the match and held EMU to a -.012 percentage, forcing the Royals into 22 attack errors with just 21 kills. The Blazers out-dug the Royals 34-21 while EMU had a 5-3 advantage in service aces.

Bollinger led EMU with 16 assists and three aces, and Abele added nine kills and three digs. Wright finished with 10 digs for the Royals.

The Blazers return to action with a pair of double-headers at the SUNY Poly Tournament on Jan. 25 and 26, facing Nazareth and SUNY Poly on Saturday, and Geneva and Thiel on Sunday.