Contact:
Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
DECATUR, Ill. (Mar. 21, 2021) - The Loras College men's volleyball team (5-5, 4-4 CCIW) took on the Millikin University Big Blue (0-10, 0-9 CCIW) on the road for a Sunday matinee at the Griswold Center. As was the story in their first meeting of the season, the Duhawks dominated the Big Blue in three sets 25-18, 25-18, 25-19.
David Beach,
Jake Filotto and
Tyler Kratochvil shined at the service line for Loras, each putting down two service aces apiece.
The Big Blue opened the first set with a kill by Jakob Henderson that was followed by two Duhawk attacking errors to give the opposition three unanswered points. Filotto spoiled the run for Millikin with a kill assisted by
Joe Horn to put the Duhawks on a seven point tear that saw Millikin post three errors and two kills from Kratochvil and an ace from Filotto. The two teams traded points before two straight kills from Filotto and
Michael Dziewior gave the Duhawks a comfortable five point lead at 14-9. Millikin made a solid push and came within two but the Duhawks outscored the Big Blue 8-1, highlighted by two Kratochvil aces and kills from
Patrick Mahoney, Kratochvil and Filotto. With the set score at 24-15, Millikin added three straight to their total but Filotto shut the door on the set with a kill to give the Duhawks the set victory at 25-18.
Millikin struck first again in set number two on a Duhawk error but added three back with a pair of kills from Filotto and
Tucker Ziegenhorn that was followed up by an attacking error from Chelan Beavers to give the Duhawks a 3-1 advantage early. The two teams worked their way through the mid point of the set with the Duhawks maintaining the lead but the Big Blue put two straight on the board to come within one. A Millikin service error and a Horn service ace put the Duhawks up by three at 10-7 before going on to add three more on from a pair of Big Blue attacking errors and a Ziegenhorn kill that gave the Duhawks a five point lead. The two teams scored back and forth points late in the set but the Duhawks outscored Millikin 6-1 to finish the set on a Beach service ace to give Loras another 25-18 win.
The third set of the match started off on a high note for the Duhawks, going up by six points at 7-1 after an attacking error from Millikin's Fred Halper put Loras on the board first to start the set. Loras maintained their wide lead through the middle portion of the set, going up by nine points at 15-7 on three straight errors from the Millikin offense. The Big Blue tried to close the gap in the score but Loras proved to be too much for them to handle as they outscored the Big Blue 5-1 with a pair of kills from
Colin Dahill and
Jacob Bonnett and three errors from Millikin brought the score to 24-14. With the match on it's final point for Loras, Millikin notched five straight points by an error from Millikin's Henderson ended the match with a 25-19 set score in favor of the Duhawks.
Mahoney and Filotto led the attack for the Duhawks with seven kills each, joined by Ziegenhorn who posted a career-high six kills. Beach notched a season-high two aces at the service line as Filotto also added two and Kratochvil recorded a career-high two aces. Dziewior had a career-day defensively for Loras with three total blocks in the match, joined by Kratochvil who added one.
The Duhawks are slated to face the North Park University Vikings on Wednesday, Mar. 24 in Chicago, Ill. for their second meeting of the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM.
