ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. (Jan. 25)- The Saint Vincent College men's volleyball team split a tri-match on the road at Elizabethtown on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats were defeated by the host Elizabethtown 3-2 in the first match of the day, before following that up with a 3-0 win against Wilson.
 
MATCH 1- Elizabethtown 3, Saint Vincent 2
The Bearcats quickly opened to a 2-0 lead in the match after winning the first two sets by scores of 27-25 and 25-23. Elizabethtown followed by winning the next three consecutive sets by scores of 25-21, 25-17, and 15-13 in the final set to hand the Bearcats the 3-2 defeat.
 
Shawn McSwiggen had a big match for the Bearcats, totaling 28 kills, while completing his double-double with 12 digs. Jackson Genicola recorded the best performance of his young Saint Vincent career with a match-high 42 assists, while also adding nine digs for SVC.
 
Brad Heinbaugh added 12 kills and three blocks for Saint Vincent, while Zebadiah Wyant totaled seven kills in the loss.
 
It was a marathon opening set as the Bearcats and Blue Jays traded points for the entirety of the opening set of the day. Elizabethtown took an 8-5 lead, but three straight points from SVC on two consecutive attack errors and a kill from McSwiggen tied the set at 8-8.
 
Neither team was able to establish more than a one-point lead over the next several points as the set was tied 24-24 and then 25-25. SVC scored the final two points of the set on a kill from Heinbaugh, followed by an Elizabethtown attack error to win the set (27-25), taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Elizabethtown jumped out to the early lead in the second set. After trading the first few points, the Bearcats found themselves trailing 12-8 halfway through the set. That Blue Jays lead would hover around four points for the next few points as Saint Vincent still trailed at 20-16.
 
The Bearcats answered with a 9-3 run to close the set. During that run, McSwiggen recorded two kills and a service ace, while Wyant tallied a kill for SVC as well to help Saint Vincent win the set (25-23), taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Blue Jays led for almost the entirety of the third set. Saint Vincent quickly found themselves trailing 17-9 in the set. The Bearcats once again attempted a late comeback, cutting the lead to three at 23-20, before the Blue Jays scored two of the final three points to win the set (25-21), cutting the Bearcats lead to 2-1 in the match.
 
It was much of the same story in the fourth set. Elizabethtown quickly jumped out to a 7-4 lead, before the Bearcats answered tying the set at 9-9. However, the Blue Jays continued to answer every Saint Vincent score over the next several points as the Bearcats eventually found themselves trailing 23-16. The Blue Jays once again went on to score two of the final three points to win the set (25-17), tying the match at 2-2.
 
In the decisive fifth set, the teams traded back-and-forth early on as score was tied 6-6. The theme of the match was the back-and-forth play and that continued as the 6-6 tie eventually was a 13-13 tie in the decisive fifth set.
 
The Blue Jays took a 14-13 lead after a kill from Josh McCoy and won completed the comeback victory after a Saint Vincent attack error to hand the Bearcats the set loss (15-13) and the loss in the match, 3-2.
 
Overall, the Bearcats recorded a hitting percentage of .190, while Elizabethtown hit .220. Saint Vincent recorded more kills than Elizabethtown (59-47), as well as more assists (49-45). The Blue Jays totaled eight blocks to Saint Vincent's four in the match.
 
MATCH 2- Saint Vincent 3, Wilson 0
 
Saint Vincent cruised to the 3-0 sweep in their second match of the day. SVC won by set scores of 25-9, 25-22 and 25-17.

Wyant added eight assists in their second match of the day. Rocco Marino led Saint Vincent in the match with three blocks.
 
The Bearcats opened their second match of the day cruising to an opening set victory against Wilson. Saint Vincent quickly opened to a 4-1 lead in the set with two of their points coming on kills from McSwiggen and Wyant.
 
SVC broke it open from that point on. Saint Vincent would go on a 13-2 run to increase their lead to 17-3 in the set. The Bearcats would eventually close the set out by outscoring the Phoenix 8-6 with Chrystiaan Sexton ending the set with a service ace to secure the opening set win (25-9), giving SVC a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Bearcats and Phoenix went back-and-forth in the second set. Wilson held a slight 12-11 lead, before increasing that lead to 15-11 by the middle portions of the set. The Bearcats stormed back with 7-3 run to tie the set up at 18-18.
 
Saint Vincent went on to outscore the Phoenix 7-4 to win the set (25-22), taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
It was all Bearcats in their final set of the day. Saint Vincent quickly opened up to an 8-1 lead. Wilson climbed back in the match, cutting the lead to 13-10, but SVC took full control from that point on.
 
Over the remaining points, SVC outscored the Phoenix 12-7 over the remaining points to close out the set win (25-17) and the victory in the match.
 
The Bearcats recording a hitting percentage of .250 in the match. SVC recorded 29 kills, eight service aces, seven blocks, 24 assists, and 38 digs. Saint Vincent limited Wilson to hit just .035.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action on Saturday, February 1 competing in a tri-match at Penn State-Altoona. The Bearcats will first take on Wilkes before competing against Penn State-Altoona at 4 p.m. to conclude the tri-match.