ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The 14^th-ranked Stevenson men's volleyball team (11-6, 3-0 MAC) defeated Eastern (4-6, 1-2 MAC) in straight sets to remain un-beaten in MAC conference play Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 25-22, 26-25 and 25-15.

The first set was tightly matched until Stevenson embarked on a 9-3 run to open an 18-9 advantage. The run included three block assists from Elliot De La Torre, one in which he paired with Tanner Stauffer and two with Aleks Melbardis. Melbardis and Stauffer also added kills during the run while Melbardis dropped in an ace as well.  

Eastern mounted an 8-3 run of their own to narrow the set score but ran out of points to finish the comeback. Stevenson took set one 25-22.

Set two was an exciting bout with the two teams trading runs and side-outs until the Eagles were able to capitalize on Mustang hit errors to open an 11-13 advantage. Eastern carried the advantage until to the 21-18 mark when Stevenson rallied three points together to tie the set at 21-apiece.

The two sides traded side outs again until the 24-24 mark when a kill from Aidan O'Brien leveraged a Mustang three-point rally to take the middle frame 26-14.  

Following the nail-biting middle stanza, the Mustangs carried their momentum in the third set, jumping to a 13-6 lead with a big solo block from Elliot De La Torre followed by back-to-back aces from Tanner Stauffer. Stevenson continued to control the final frame, not allowing Eastern to tack on more than one point at a time for the rest of the set.

Ryan Thenell added a kill fro the Mustangs before an Eastern attack error finished the frame giving the Mustangs a 25-15 third-set victory.

Numbers and Notes

• Aleks Melbardis finished the match with 10 kills, the fourth time he had cracked into double-digit kills this season.
• Elliot De La Torre added five block assists to lead the Mustangs.
• Justin Novoa added 31 assists, the third game in a row he has eclipsed the 30 mark and fifth time this season.

What's Next

• The Mustangs take a step outside of MAC conference play to host Juniata Wednesday March 8 at 7pm. Stevenson returns to MAC action on March 12 when they play King's (PA) and Misericordia in a tri-match beginning at 2pm.