Contact:
Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
Mar. 27, 2021 - The Loras College men's volleyball team (7-5, 6-4 CCIW) welcome the Augustana College Vikings (9-5, 8-3 CCIW) to Lillis Court on Saturday afternoon. After falling 3-1 in their first meeting of the season on Mar. 2, the Duhawks swept the Vikings in a clean three sets, marking the first victory over Augustana in Duhawk men's volleyball program history.
Andres Martinez struck first for Loras in the first set on a kill assisted by setter
Joe Horn. Augustana responded with two straight points of their own but Martinez spoiled the run with another kill. The Duhawks went on a four point tear moments later with
Patrick Mahoney and Jake Fillotto each notching two kill apiece in the run. The Vikings held close with the Duhawks but Loras pulled away by six at 14-8 after posting three straight kills, followed by back-to-back attacking errors from Augustana. After the Vikings scored another two, Loras again went on a multi-point run with
Dorian Fiorenza and Mahoney each tabbing a kill with an attacking error from Augustana's Gary Dodovich rounding out the run. The two teams trading scoring to close out the set but Loras kep the lead to take the set 25-21 with Filotto closing out the set with a kill.
As was the story in the set prior, Loras scored first in the set, this time on a kill from the hand of Mahoney. Augustana took two points to follow but Fiorenza tied the set back at 2-2. Loras took the lead again in the set after the Duhawks scored on two straight errors from the Vikings followed by a kill from
Tucker Ziegenhorn. The Duhawks held the lead through the middle portion of the set but Augustana chipped away at thhe lead to take a 13-12 lead over the Duhawks but Fiorenza tied the set back at 13-13. An attacking error from Jarod Hesse added another point to the Duhawks score to give them the lead once again. The two teams traded blows toward the end of the set but the Duhawks put their offense on display going on a five point run to close out the set with Fiorenza posting two kills in the run while Mahoney added one to take set two 25-20.
Set three saw the Duhawks get off to an immediate 3-0 lead with a pair of kills from Fiorenza and another attacking error from Hesse. Loras added to their lead to go up by five after back-to-back kills from Filotto and Ziegenhorn, followed by an error from Augustana took the score to 8-3 in the Duhawks' favor. A Loras service error put one on the board for Augustana but the Duhawks answered by again putting up three straight on a pair of kills from Mahoney and Filotto and an Augustana service error. The Duhawks took their widest lead of the set 20-10 after putting up four straight on Augustana with Filotto posting a kill in the run and Horn putting down a service ace on Augustana's Max Sellers. Augustana tried to get back in the game but the Duhawks proved to be too much to handle as the match ended on a service error from Marcus Rembert to take the score to 25-18, giving Loras their first program victory over the Vikings.
The Duhawks put on a show defensively at the net with a combined nine blocks in the match, with Martinez and Horn locking it down with four total blocks each. Mahoney added three of his own while Fiorenza had two and Fillotto and Ziegenhorn each had one.
Offensively, Fiorenza excelled with 13 kills and an ace in the match, followed by Filotto who had ten kills and an ace to his name. Mahoney added seven kills to the attack and Horn rounded out the strong offense for the Duhawks with an ace and 33 assists.
The Duhawks are set to travel to Bloomington, Ill. on Wednesday, Mar. 31 to face the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) road matchup. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM at the Shirk Center.
