April 8, 2011

It took a little longer than expected but the Quincy University men's volleyball team set a new program record for most wins in a season with their 19th win in a 3-2 come from behind victory at home over Grand Canyon University on Friday night. The Hawks edge out the Antelopes 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 17-25 and 15-11 for the win.

Quincy got off to a slow start hitting just .038 as a team with nine kills and eight errors in the opening set. Grand Canyon's offense meanwhile did nothing spectacular in the match but was consistent as they hit .197 as a team in the match with 57 kills and 29 errors.

Quincy finally got their attack going in the second set with 14 kills and hit .235 as a team. Quincy trailed 16-15 mid-way through the set when they picked up a kill by Joseph Ascher to spark things. Ryan Lehmann followed with two kills to give Quincy the lead. Kyle Volstad surprised the Antelope back row by dropping a serve into the far right corner of the court for an ace that allowed the Hawks to open up the game. Quincy went on to pull away as Joseph Ascher finished the set with a pair of kills.

The Hawks trailed again in the third set and were down 10-6 early on before tying the game up at 12-12 on a kill by Steven Battaglia. The Hawks and Antelopes battled back and forth with Grand Canyon holding a 23-21 edge late. Joseph Sokol and Volstad picked up back to back kills to even the score while Sokol gave Quincy the lead moments later. Ascher closed out the set with a kill as Quincy hit .393 as a team in the set with 15 kills and just four errors.

The Hawk offense though went cold in the fourth set hitting a match-low .037 with just seven kills and six errors while Grand Canyon hit a match-high .310 with 14 kills and five errors. Grand Canyon though had their worst hitting set of the match in the fifth set as Quincy's defense rose to the occasion.

Quincy started the fifth set with back to back blocks, en route to 12.5 team blocks in the match. The fifth set was the only set in which Quincy led the entire way as they cruised to the 15-11 win.

Joseph Ascher led the way with 15 kills while Joseph Sokol added 10 kills. Andrew Ouano finished with 45 assists while Tanner Wright added 15 digs. Quincy improves to 19-12 overall this season and pick up their first conference win of the season. They return to action again tomorrow night when they face Grand Canyon once more at 7 p.m. in Pepsi Arena.