BLUEFIELD, Va. -- The Midway University men's volleyball was back in action on Saturday afternoon when they wrapped up their regular season with a Mid-South Conference road contest at Bluefield (Va.).
The Eagles stayed close throughout the match, but errors plagued the visitors down the stretch as Bluefield slipped away for the 3-1 victory (25-16, 22-25, 25-18, 25-23) in the regular season finale for both squads.
Jonea Rima's club finishes the regular season with a 3-14 mark overall and a 2-11 record in Mid-South Conference play. Midway now turns their attention to the MSC Tournament which begins on Friday, April 5, at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Saturday's meeting with the Rams (14-16, 7-7 MSC) was very similar to when they first met on February 28 in Marshall Gymnasium. Just like then, the Rams won the first set before Midway rallied to win the second. Bluefield then won the final two sets to win the match.
Midway finished the match with 41 kills and a .198 hitting clip, but they didn't do themselves any favors with 19 attacking errors and 18 service errors. Bluefield committed 20 attacking miscues and 14 service errors, but they carded 50 kills and finished with a .263 attacking clip.
With the second set tied at 16, the Eagles got a pair of kills from Victor Pietro (Gloria de Dourados, Brazil) and an ace from Gavin-James Andaya (Kapolei, Hawaii) to pull ahead 19-16. The Rams pulled to within 21-19, but three more kills from Pietro lifted the visitors to a second set victory tying the match at one set apiece.
Bluefield had no problem winning the second set, but Midway stayed close throughout in the fourth stanza. Trailing 19-16, the Eagles rallied behind a 7-4 run tying the set at 23 all. Bluefield, however, came out of a timeout and won the final two points to win the set and the match.
Victor Pietro led the way for the Eagles with 31 kills and a .237 hitting percentage. He also added four digs in the loss. With his 31 kills, he surpasses 300 for the season as he now had three matches with at least 30 kills and six matches with 20 or more kills.
Gavin-James Andaya ran Midway's offense and had 37 assists, while adding five digs. Kyle West (Dry Ridge, Ky.) tallied a team-high 10 digs, while Nate Martin (Pickerington, Ohio) had seven and Eric Rosado (San German, Puerto Rico) tallied six.
Follow Midway Eagles Athletics
