FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Duhawks.com) – The Loras Men's Volleyball team traveled to Indiana to take on Head Coach Jeremy Thornburg's alma mater, Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, in their final non-conference match, where they would fall in straight sets. The Duhawks were led by senior Michael Kreiser with five kills, seven digs and two aces.

The Duhawks faced a tough task going against a Division I squad that is currently ranked No. 13 in the country. However, Loras marched out to a quick start after Kreiser drilled an ace to the floor to make the score, 10-7, in favor of the purple and gold.

IPFW responded when junior Andrew Sellan pummeled an attack on the Duhawk defense to give the Mastodons a 15-12 lead. Freshman TJ Esporas threw a haymaker of his own to cut the lead down to 19-17.

Loras went punch-for-punch with the Dons in the first set but IPFW closed out the opening game by a score of 25-19.

The Mastodons came out much stronger in the second set when Tony Price obliterated a kill to make it 6-2. Esporas countered with another scorching attack to make it 13-6 but IPFW was too much to overcome in the second set.

The Dons went on a 12-4 run highlighted by Sellan's play to end the second set, 25-10.

Loras found their second wind of energy thanks to back-to-back kills by freshman Jimmy Combs to start the third set and jump to an early 3-1 advantage.

IPFW wasted little time in answering Coach Thornburg's unit by scoring nine of the next 11 points to regain command of the third set, 10-5. Freshman Dawid Kasprzak rallied his teammates after launching a service ace to cut the deficit and make the score, 11-9.

Tyler Golsteyn of the Mastodons mimicked Kasprzak with an ace of his own to stretch IPFW's lead back to 17-10.

The Duhawks made one last charge at the heavily favored Dons by scoring four straight points and cutting it to 20-16 but it was not enough as IPFW took the third and final set 25-17.
 
Game Changer
IPFW took control thanks to a 12-4 run to end the second set and set the tone for the reminder of the match

Key Stat
Loras struggled on the attack against a solid Mastodon defense, recording a .039 attacking percentage as a team

Notables

• TJ Esporas finished with five kills, five digs and a solo block
• Jimmy Combs recorded four kills, four assists and two digs
• IPFW's Andrew Sellan had 12 kills on 19 attempts for a .632 attacking percentage and tallied eight digs

Up Next
The Duhawks will be back on the road for an MCVL battle against Benedictine in Lisle, Illinois on March 11. The Eagles fell in four sets to Lakeland College on March 4. Benedictine is 4-11 overall and 2-6 in MCVL play.