Reinhardt Gets Revenge on No. 13 Life in Straight Sets, Evens Series at 1-1

By Brandon Wright, RU Athletics

WALESKA, Ga. – The Reinhardt men's volleyball team got even on the year with in-state foe No. 13 Life (Ga.) on Saturday in straight sets by handing the Running Eagles their first loss of the year – 25-23, 25-17, 26-24. 

The Eagles have now won three matches in-a-row, all in straight sets, and have been victorious in seven of their last nine to give them an 8-5 overall record and a 6-2 mark in Mid-South Conference (MSC) play.

"First, I want to acknowledge the fight Life had today," head coach CJ Shearer said. "They had major adversity thrown their way over the last few weeks and still came up here and put a great squad on the floor. The fight they had was amazing; hats off to Coach Duda and those guys.

"As far as us, this was a big win. Our guys came out very flat in set one, and we don't always respond well after that. They seized an opportunity to come back and take set one – listened and made some adjustments – and rolled from there. I also got to see them respond to big-time pressure moments in set three. The guys are working so hard and growing day by day; it's been amazing to be a part of. Today was a big-time team win. Everything goes to God, and we look forward to seeing Warner next Thursday."

The win did not come easy for the home team as the combined margin of victory in all three sets was just 12 points.

Life led the way in virtually all of game one, but a 7-0 Reinhardt run, fueled by multiple Running Eagle errors, made the score, 21-19, late in the game. A few moments later, the Eagles found themselves down, 23-22, but battled back with three unanswered points capped off by a service ace by Victor Pacheco to take the opening set by a score of 25-23.

The only lead the visitors had on the Eagles in game two was very early on with the score at 2-1. Reinhardt immediately took the lead back and never lost it again en route to a clean 25-17 victory in game two.

Set three was much like game one in that it came down to the very end. Life kept the lead early on and into the later stages of the stanza, but it never got to be above three points. This allowed Reinhardt to keep the game within arms distance and eventually emerge victorious.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Eagles lost the advantage and remained a few points behind until they tied it back up at 16 apiece. A short time later, the game was tied again, this time at 22-all.

An error by Reinhardt gave Life the one-point lead, but then the visitors followed that up with two errors of their own giving the Eagles a 24-23 cushion.

Life would not go down easy as the Running Eagles put up one more point to tie the game again at 24, but Reinhardt was not letting the game go to four sets as it scored two unanswered to win game three, 26-24.

Three different Eagles hit .500-or-better on the day – Dalton Fellows (.500), Matthew Corrales (.556) and Ricardo Mujica (.667).

Corrales also added 13 points and 12 kills while Mujica led the way in assists with 31 and digs with six.

Pacheco had another nice day as he pitched in 14 points, 10 kills, 2 solo blocks, 2 digs and 2 service aces.

The Eagles will travel to Lake Wales, Fla., on Thursday to take on Warner.

The match begins at 7 p.m.

Reinhardt defeated Warner a few weeks ago on Feb. 18, 3-1. The Royals are 4-2 overall – as all their games have been played in the MSC.

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For more information on Reinhardt Men's Volleyball, please click here.