CHARLESTON, W.V. – The Sacred Heart men's volleyball team hit a season-high .333 in a 3-1 victory at Charleston (W.V) on Friday night, moving to 2-1 in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play (EIVA) play. 

Sacred Heart hit over .300 in all four sets, including a match best .409 in the clinching fourth. Michael Comens and Austin Arcala led the charge, equaling the entire Charleston team by combining for 31 kills on .407 hitting. Comens' match-high 16 were a new career-high for a match that did not go five sets.

SHU also had one of its best defensive efforts of the season, limiting Charleston to just .020 hitting, The Pioneers had eight total blocks, four of which Michael McLaughlin played a part of in just his second career match. The Golden Eagles had three blocks and plagued themselves with 29 total errors, as they hit negative percentages in both the first and second set. 

Eduardo Zardo doubled up the Golden Eagle leader with 40 assists, as did Joshua Ayzenberg by tying his season-high with 12 digs.

Eugene Stuart led Charleston (4-9, 0-4 EIVA) with nine kills. 

Sacred Heart looks for the weekend and season sweep tomorrow at 4 pm.

Noteworthy

• This is the first time since 2011 that Sacred Heart has started 2-1 in conference play.

 How it Happened

• First Set (25-14) – The two teams went back and forth in the beginning with Charleston even jumping out to an early 8-6 lead. It was all Sacred Heart from there though, as the Pioneers scored the next six points, five coming on Golden Eagle errors. Back-to-back attack errors ended a 9-1 run for a 15-9 lead before SHU would end the set with the final five points capped by back-to-back kills by Arcala and DeLucie.
• Second Set (25-13) – Again it was UC plaguing itself. With the set tied at seven, Sacred Heart would go on a 9-1 surge with all nine points on Golden Eagle errors.
• Third Set (25-23) – SHU looked well on its way to a sweep with leads of 11-6 and 14-11, but a 4-1 Charleston  stretch evened the score at 15. There were five more ties in the set from there, the final one coming at 21 after Rajahl Moxey leveled the score for UC. That was the first of three straight points for the Golden Eagles, who held off the Pioneers getting within once twice, 23-22 and 24-23, before Brandon Greenway sent the match to a fourth set with a kill
• Fourth Set (25-17) - The Pioneers quickly halted the momentum with four of the first five points in the fourth and would never look back en route to a 25-17 final. After back-to-back kills from Comens and DeLucie, McLaughlin teamed with DeLucie on a block for an early 4-1 advantage. The Golden Eagles scored the next point but consecutive errors push the lead to 6-2 and UC could never get closer than three.