Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

STEVENSON, Md. (Jan. 31, 2020) – Forcing its opponent to extra points to win two of the three sets, the Loras College men's volleyball team (3-0) battled through one of its toughest matchups this season and bested the Nazareth College Golden Flyers (2-2) in a grueling 3-0 win on Friday evening.

Both teams opened the match neck in neck until a kill by Andres Martinez off the assist from Patrick Hollander and a service ace from Kevin Kessel helped the Duhawks pull ahead 8-5. An error by the Golden Flyers sparked a five-point run, highlighted by two service aces for Beach, to give Loras a 13-6 lead. Beach and Ian Walsh then added two kills each to put Loras ahead 24-21 for set point, but Nazareth was not done fighting, coming up with a block at the net and a kill, but Dorian Fiorenza was ready to finalize the set, hitting in a kill to give Loras the 25-23 win.

The Duhawks opened the second set with kills from Fiorenza, Beach and Jake Filotto to lead 5-1, but Nazareth chipped away to stay on the Duhawks' heals, cutting the score 15-14. Fiorenza added two more kills to extend the lead but the Golden Flyers soon tied it up 19-19 after two errors by the Duhawks. Not deterred, Loras tacked on three more points to lead 22-19 and a kill from Walsh put the Duhawks back at set point, 24-22, but the set would not end at 25 points as the Golden Flyers fought to stay in the set, tying it 24-24.

A service error by Nazareth gave the Duhawks' the serve but soon found themselves on the other side of the set point, down 26-25. Hollander set Fiorenza for the kill to tie it yet again 26-26, but an error on the next point gave the Golden Flyers the chance to win the set. However, Martinez and Beach had other plans as Martinez hit a kill to tie the score 27-27 and Beach denied Nazareth's Antonio Sargent a kill with a block at the net. With the Duhawks up by one, Filotto capitalized on his chance to end the set, hitting the kill to give Loras a 2-0 lead going into the third set.

The Duhawks jumped ahead to a 4-0 lead in the third off a kill from Fiorenza, ace from Hollander and a kill and block from Martinez. Loras continued to maintain control of the set, soon taking a 17-11 lead off the sneaky attack from Hollander. But the Golden Flyers were gunning to spoil the Duhawks' run and scored six-straight points to tie the score, 17-17. Nazareth had momentum, soon taking its first lead of the set 19-18 and putting the Duhawks on the other side of set point for the second time in the match, ahead 24-22. Having been here before, Martinez and Beach came up huge at the net for Loras with a block before Filotto added a kill and the Duhawks forced a ball off the antenna by the Golden Flyers to set up Kessel with the serve for match point. Staying poised, the freshman set up for the jump serve and caught the Golden Flyers' serve receive off guard to win the match off an ace.

Fiorenza had 14 kills in the win and added two service aces while Beach had eight kills, two service aces and a team-high ten digs. Kessel also had two service aces and Martinez and Beach both came up with four blocks. The Duhawks also made head coach Jeremy Thornburg's birthday one to remember, delivering a match-high 0.333 hitting percentage in the second set and tallying 41 kills in the win.

The Duhawks return to action on Saturday, Feb. 1 for a pair of matches against No. 12-ranked Stevenson University and RV Lancaster Bible College. The first match against the Mustangs is set for 12 P.M (ET) before taking on Lancaster Bible at 4 P.M (ET).