LANCASTER, Pa.- The Wilson men's volleyball team opened their season on the road this morning, traveling to Lancaster Bible College for a tri-match against the Chargers of Lancaster Bible and the Bears of SUNY Potsdam. Wilson was defeated in both of their contests, falling in three sets in each.
Match One: The Phoenix fell behind early in the first set 10-4 as the Chargers would later move out to an 18-7 lead. Lancaster Bible went on to win the first set 25-11 over the Phoenix. Wilson had 5 kills in the first set on 14 attempts as
Dan Perry (London, England, Okanagan Secondary) led the way with 3 kills.
Lancaster Bible jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the second set before the Phoenix took a timeout. The Phoenix came out of the timeout scoring back-to-back points before the Chargers extended their lead to 15-5 and would later take the set 25-11. Wilson struck for just three kills in the second set with
Ian Firestone (York, Pa., York Suburban) registering two of the three.
Wilson started the third set by taking a 3-2 lead with kills from
Ian Firestone and
Dan Perry. The Chargers didn't trail for long, however, as they stormed ahead 15-6. Wilson would cut the deficit to five before Lancaster Bible scored three straight points to take an 18-10 lead. The Chargers went on to take the third set 25-13 to win the match, 3-0.
Inside the Box Score: Wilson finished the first match with 16 total kills on 64 attempts with
Dan Perry leading the Phoenix with 7 kills.
Ian Firestone finished the match with 6 kills while also leading the Phoenix with 7 assists.
Oliver Perry (London, England, Okanagan Secondary) finished with 7 assists as well while
Andrew Hetzer (Chambersburg, Pa., Cumberland Valley Christian) finished with 7 digs for the Phoenix.
Match Two: Wilson took on the Bears of SUNY Potsdam in the second match of the day. After SUNY Potsdam took an 8-2 lead, the Phoenix started to storm back and pulled within striking distance.
Oliver Perry started the Wilson rally with a kill, followed by three straight kills from
Ian Firestone that brought the Phoenix within two points. The Bears would rally back and take the first set by a score of 25-16.
In the second set, SUNY Potsdam jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. Wilson started to chip away and eventually battle back until they were within two points, 11-9. Senior
Joshua Harvey (Perth, Australia, La Salle College) helped lead the offensive attack while
Andrew Hetzer and
Ian Firestone helped spearhead the defense with a huge block. After the Bears were able to pull ahead, Wilson, again, started a rally and were able to pull within one point. This time
Oliver Perry led the charge with two kills while
Andrew Hetzer added one. The Phoenix continued to battle but could not pull off the comeback as they would go on to be defeated in the second set by a score of 25-21.
SUNY Potsdam hopped on a 10-3 run before Wilson called a timeout. The Bears continued to rally and eventually stretched their lead to 18-5 before the Phoenix called their final timeout. After the break in play, Wilson came out hot and started a 12-5 run that took the score to 21-17 and forced SUNY Potsdam to take a timeout of their own. Wilson could not complete the rally as they would be defeated in this set by a score of 25-20.
Inside the Box Score: Wilson finished with 20 kills on 87 attempts against 20 errors while their opponent finished with 30 kills on 88 attempts against 21 errors.
Firestone led the offense with eight kills,
Oliver Perry finished with five, while
Hetzer finished with three.
Firestone also finished with 10 digs and nine assists while
Oliver Perry finished tallying up nine assists and five digs.
Up Next: The Phoenix will travel to take on Pratt Institute on Saturday, February 15, at noon.
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