DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The 2016 season came to a close on Saturday for the Loras men's volleyball team, suffering a 3-1 setback to Greenville. Freshman
Greg Kinney nearly tied the program record for kills in a match, finishing with 18.
LORAS HIGHLIGHTS - The 2016 season came to a close on Saturday for the Loras men's volleyball team, suffering a 3-1 setback to Greenville. Freshman Greg Kinney nearly tied the program record for kills in a match, finishing with 18.
- Head coach Jeremy Thornburg's opted for a new-look lineup in the season finale, which featured starts from junior Paul Kraus and freshman Aaron Miller. Loras responded to the change well, getting off to a fast start with an ace to open the match from freshman Alfredo Lopez.
- The Panthers, however, battled back and made a 6-1 run at the 3-3 mark to open up a five-point advantage.
- The Duhawks chipped away at this deficit, bringing the margin to two, trailing 12-10 following a kill from freshman Greg Kinney.
- Greenville seized back the momentum and opened a 21-16 lead towards the end of the frame.
- Loras continued to fight to the finish of set one, as a kill from freshman Martin Rodriguez brought the deficit to one with the Duhawks trailing 24-23.
- The Panthers put away a kill on the next serve to take set one, 25-23.
- Set two featured a fast start from Greenville as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
- The Duhawks showed their persistence, once again, battling back to erase the deficit and take a 10-9 advantage in the frame after back-to-back Panther errors.
- Both sides traded points throughout the middle part of set number two, bring a deadlocked score at 19-all to the end of the set.
- Two consecutive points from Greenville forced a Loras timeout at the 21-19 mark.
- Although a kill from sophomore Jimmy Combs out of the break cut the deficit to one, the Duhawks could not get any closer, dropping set two by a score of 25-23.
- Set three was back-and-forth from the beginning as a kill from Combs knotted the score at 6-all.
- Loras used a 9-5 run at this point to open a 16-11 advantage, a five-point margin that it would not relinquish.
- The Duhawks added to their advantage thanks to a kill from Kinney to push the lead to 23-17 for Loras.Â
- A late push from the Panthers made matters interesting, but another Kinney kill closed out the third set for the Duhawks, 25-21.
- Set four was the most back-and-forth frame of the day, with both sides jockeying for the lead early as a kill from Lopez made the score 7-all.
- As the set progressed, both teams remained deadlocked with the score at 17-17 heading down the final stretch.
- With the score tied at 21-all, the Panthers used a 4-2 run to close out the set, 25-23, and the match, 3-1.
- Loras finishes the 2016 season with a 10-16 overall record and 4-9 in the MCVL while Greenville finishes out their inaugural season with a 13-11 record and a 6-7 conference mark.
- Kinney led the way for Loras on the offensive end with 18 kills in the match, a mark which ranks second in school history for kills in a match. The freshman recorded career-highs in kills (18), attack percentage (.342) and digs (14).
- Freshman Austin Kuchenbecker surpassed the 100-kill mark for his career and caps his freshman campaign with 101. His 10 kills on Saturday was a career-high.
- In his first match as a setter, Lopez posted 26 assists, the fourth highest mark by a Loras setter this season.
- Freshman Aaron Miller topped Lopez by one assist and ranks third all-time with 27 in a single match.
- Freshman Chris Paige tied his season-best mark of 12 digs on Saturday, along with recording four assists.
- Freshman Martin Rodriguez recorded a season-best 10 kills and finished with a .226 attack percentage.
- As a team, Loras set a program record with 61 kills in a match with a previous best of 55 coming in a three-set win over Trinity International during the 2015 season.
- The Duhawks tied a program record with 58 digs in a match, matching its effort against Lakeland from earlier this season.
- In total, six season records were set as a team this season. Sophomore Dylan Ross now holds the program record for kills in a season with 187. Sophomore Shayne Marquez owns the season record for assists with 444. Sophomore Jimmy Combs is the record holder in solo blocks (15), assisted blocks (67) and total blocks (82).
