Men's Volleyball: Bison compete in EMU Royal Tournament

BETHANY, W.Va. -  The Bethany men's volleyball team traveled to Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) for the EMU Royal Tournament. They played EMU Friday night and squared off against Messiah and Southern Virginia University (SVU) on Saturday. 

THE MATCHUPS 

EMU 3, Bethany 0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16) 

Messiah 3, Bethany 0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-11) 

SVU 3, Bethany 0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-3) 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Bethany's first opponent of the tournament was EMU. While Friday was the Bison's only non-ranked opponent of the weekend, EMU came out swinging hard. They jumped out to early leads in each of the three sets, never trailing in the match.  
• James Lucht was Bethany's leading scorer with three kills, an ace, and an assist. He also put together a quality defensive game for the Bison leading with eight digs. 
• The Bison looked like they were ready to take on both ranked opponents after a night's rest. 
• They opened up their Saturday against the #18 Messiah. The Falcons soared into the most recent  rankings after a dominant three set win over #13 Nazareth. 
• The Bison started slowly, losing the first set 25-7. However, they didn't back down despite the odds. The beginning of the second set is where the Bison built momentum. They were trailing the Falcons 4-1 before going on their run. After taking the serve on a Messiah error, Gabe Dombroff took to the service line, forced a few errors, and tied the game 4-4.
• Messiah's Brayden Parks retook the serve and gave the Falcons a 5-4 lead for a short time before Rylan Trapp slammed down a kill to tie the game. A service ace by Trapp gave the Bison a 6-5 lead over the #18 ranked teams in the country. The teams traded points until Alexander Blair tied the game 10-10 with a kill.  That was the last time the Bison had a lead for the match. Messiah then went on a 15-1 run to secure the second set. They carried that momentum to the third for a three set victory. 
• Leonardo Locatelli was one of the hidden stars of the match for the Bison. The setter lofted nine total assists against Messiah. 
• The following game was a tall task for the newly formed Bison volleyball team as they took on perennial powerhouse #3 SVU. 
• The Knights were as crisp as can be on the court. They were a lot to handle for the Bison as they ran away with the third game of the weekend. Tyler Johnson led the team with 4 kills and a service ace.  
• The Bison ended the weekend 0-3 against some tough opponents. 

TOP BISON PERFORMERS: 

• Lucht had 10 kills for the Bison. 
• Johnson trailed right behind him with nine while adding three service aces against ranked teams. 
• Locatelli was the ultimate set-up man in this tournament with 16 total assists. 

WHAT'S NEXT? 

The Bison will host Hiram on Feb. 27th inside Hummel Field House. First serve is set for 7pm.