DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - Wednesday night's Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League action pit Loras against Benedictine for the second time this season with the Eagles walking away with the same result, 3-0. Freshman
Jimmy Combs finished with eight kills, four block assists, two solo blocks, and two aces.
Loras and Benedictine met in the second week of the season and the Eagles walked away with a 3-0 win. That contest went in the books as a non-conference match, so Wednesday was the first time the teams met in conference play.
Right out the gates, Benedictine (3-7, 1-3 MCVL) opened on a 8-2 run, prompting a timeout from Loras head coach
Jeremy Thornburg. Five of the Eagles' opening eight points came by way of a kill. The timeout did stop the rally, as Combs pounded away his second kill of the night on an assist from freshman
Shayne Marquez.
It took time, but the Duhawks (0-8, 0-3 MCVL) clawed their way back into the set at 21-17. From there, every point by Loras was matched by a point by Benedictine, with the Eagles taking the first set 25-21.
Opening set two, Marquez started the Duhawks on the right foot with an ace. Picking up where the first set ended with both sides going back and forth but neither unable to gain a solid foothold.
Tied at 17, Benedictine rattled off three straight points to take a 20-17 lead and prompt another timeout from Thornburg.
The break in momentum helped the Duhawks as they responded with a 4-2 run to cut the Eagles' lead to just one, inducing a timeout from Dan Buehring, Benedictine's head coach.
Following the break, the Eagles rattled off three straight points, finishing with a kill to take set two 25-21.
In the third set, the Duhawks showed great determination and grit, but once again were unable to distance themselves from Benedictine.
The two sides traded points back and forth throughout with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage.
Following a Loras timeout at 21-19, Lewis Stein recorded an ace for the Eagles to give them just enough of a cushion. Loras clawed and scratched their way to a one-point deficit at 24-23, but a kill by Jake Moran finished off the match and gave Benedictine the 3-0 win.
Game ChangerThe fact that Loras was unable to sustain their momentum swings really hurt their chances to take control of the match
Key StatBoth
Jimmy Combs and
Dawid Kasprzak posted error-less nights, a first for Combs and the second time Kasprzak has done it this season
Notables- Shayne Marquez posted a career-high with 22 sets
- Jimmy Combs now has six solo blocks on the season and 25 assisted blocks, which puts him at seventh in the MCVL
QuotableJimmy Combs, freshman middle blocker
"We're really close to pulling out a 'W'. We just need to keep the focus on us because we did make too many errors overall tonight. If we would have had a good game, we would have beat them, they didn't really do anything special."
Up NextLoras travels to Deerfield, Illinois for a triangular against Calumet College of St. Joseph and Trinity International. Loras' first match will be against Calumet College of St. Joseph at 12 p.m.
