April 16, 2011

One night after an impressive come from behind victory over #12 Loyola University-Chicago, the Quincy University men's volleyball team was unable to repeat that magic and came up short falling 3-1 and losing the match 25-21, 25-20, 16-25 and 25-23.

Quincy once again played the nationally ranked Ramblers tight all match long but in the end a slow start offensively cost them. Quincy hit just .217 in the opening set and -.032 in the second set before righting their attack and hitting over .300 as a team in the final two sets. But the poor hitting in the two opening sets put the Hawks in a steep 2-0 hole in the match.

The score was near even at 17-16 in favor of Loyola in the opening set when a double block by a pair of Quincy seniors, Jeremiah Anderson and Kyle Homeyer, gave the Hawks hope at making a run. However Loyola wisely called a time out to stop the momentum and from there took off, scoring the next four points and control of the game.

Loyola sprinted out to a 9-3 start in the second set before Quincy made a late push to close the score to 23-20. However it would be too little too late as the Ramblers took a commanding two sets to none lead in the match.

Quincy's offense finally got on track in the third set and sparked the Hawks to a 10-4 lead. Quincy hit a match high .522 as a team in that set with 14 kills and just two errors. The Hawks carried their offensive streak into the fourth set and held a 13-11 lead after back to back kills by Joseph Sokol and Ryan Lehmann. But once again the Ramblers called a time out to stop the momentum and responded with five straight points and would not trail again in the set.

Quincy finished with a .241 team hitting percentage with 47 kills while Loyola hit .164 as a team with 47 kills. The Hawks also finished with 12 total team blocks with Kyle Volstad leading the way with six blocks. Ryan Lehmann finished with a team high 15 kills while Joseph Sokol added 11 kills. Andrew Ouano recorded 41 assists and Tanner Wright chipped in with 10 digs for Quincy.

Prior to the match Quincy honored their four seniors on the team: Jeremiah Anderson, Kyle Homeyer, Kyle Volstad and Tanner Wright. Quincy closes out the regular season with a 21-13 overall record and a 3-9 mark in the MIVA. Quincy will await the MIVA Tournament pairings which will be announced later this weekend. The first round of the tournament will be held Saturday, April 23 at the higher seed's host site.