March 31, 2012

QUINCY, Ill. – The IPFW men's volleyball team used a balanced attack on the both sides of the net to blank Quincy, 3-0 Saturday evening at Pepsi Arena in Quincy, Ill. The Mastodons sweep the weekend series with the win.

The Royal Blue and White win for the second time in as many nights and move to 12-12 overall (4-5 MIVA). IPFW continued its winning-streak over Quincy to 20-straight matches. The Hawks drop to 17-11 (1-9 MIVA) with the home loss.

Kills from Ivan Matos and Eddie Rivera moved IPFW out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, as the 'Dons went to their outside attack early on. Quincy returned the favor a short time later with a pair of kills of their own to even the score at 5-5. The teams traded points up to 18-18, before Hawks Joe Ascher and Ryan Lehmann tagged back-to-back kills to put the home team up two at 20-18. The Mastodons called a short timeout, and picked up a kill each from E. Rivera and Phil Peterson to tie the frame at 21-21. All square at 24-24, Bryan Saunders smashed a kill, then Hawk Joe Sokol committed an error to hand IPFW set one, 26-24.

Feeding off the momentum from the first frame, IPFW put the pressure on in the second set, climbing to an 8-5 advantage, as Peterson and Ramon Burgos led the way with a point each. The visitors carried the advantage to 15-13, but allowed kills to Sokol and Ascher, bringing the game to an 18-18 tie. A late ball-handling error by Quincy's Brain Peth ignited a crucial Mastodon run, as Peterson recorded a kill at 23-20 to bring IPFW to set point. Despite reeling off two scores, Quincy fired a service error on the frame's final play (25-22) to put the visitors up 2-0 in the match.

After the 10-minute intermission, the teams battled back and forth for points, with each squad taking the lead on four different occasions, taking the score to 13-13. A Peterson service error, followed by Rob Courtney kill put the home team ahead by two at 15-13. Down a pair, Matos and Burgos stepped up on the following possessions with a point each to take the frame to 21-21. Quincy followed with two-straight attack errors, then Peterson fired a kill to force match point for the Mastodons. As witnessed in the second set, Quincy gained the serve, and netted an error to give IPFW the 3-0 match win.
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Peterson totaled a match-high 14 kills and tallied five blocks in the win. Matos had 10 kills to go with three digs. For the second-straight match, JW Kieckhefer led all players with 14 digs. The Mastodons posted a .257 hitting-percentage and 10 team blocks on Saturday.

IPFW returns home for their next match on April 7, when in-state rival Ball State enters the Gates Sports Center. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. EST.