March 28, 2011

Joseph Sokol was near unstoppable in helping the Quincy University men's volleyball team to a 3-1 win at home over King College on Monday night. Sokol finished with 22 kills, a season high for a Hawk player, in helping the Hawks win 25-22, 24-26, 25-20 and 25-18 to record their 18th win of the season and tying the program record for most wins in a season.

The Quincy offense was clicking all night long and it was Kyle Volstad that early on was pounding the court with kills. Volstad threw down seven kills in the Hawks' opening set as Quincy hit .361 as a team with 18 kills and just five errors. The Hawks only misstep on the night was in the second set as they held a 22-17 lead late but were unable to finish the set out and allowed King to come back and pick up the win.

The Hawks offense limited their mistakes after that though and finished strong with 16 kills in the third set and a match high 19 kills in the final set. Quincy hit .440 as a team in the third set as they pulled away mid-way through with a 6-2 run before ending the set on a kill by Joseph Sokol. 

That kill by Sokol would be a preview of things to come in the fourth and final set as Sokol ripped 12 kills in the fourth set alone. Quincy hit .500 as a team with just three errors in the set and held a sideout percentage of 78-percent. Quincy closed out the match when Kyle Homeyer kept a ball alive on a dig and Tanner Wright set up Ryan Lehmann for the game winning kill. 

Joseph Sokol finished with 22 kills and just four errors in 33 attack attempts. The 22 kills are a season high by a Hawk and it marks just the third time this season a Hawk player has topped the 20 kill plateau. Kyle Volstad finished with 16 kills and just two errors while Steven Battaglia provided 13 kills. Andrew Ouano was efficient running the offense all night long and finished with 60 assists while Ryan Lehmann added nine kills and nine digs. 

Quincy finished the match with a team hitting percentage of .376 with 68 kills while King hit .276 as a team with 43 kills. The Hawks also added seven total blocks and five aces. Quincy improves to 18-9 overall this season and ties the program record for most wins in a season which they originally set in the 2009 season. Tonight's win also guarantees the Hawks a winning record this year, marking the first time since the 2002 season they will accomplish that feat.