Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

Mar. 6, 2021 - The Loras College men's volleyball team (4-3, 3-2 CCIW) hosted the newest addition to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans (1-9, 0-4 CCIW) at Lillis Court on Saturday. The Duhawks owned the match, defeating the Titans in a straight three sets (25-18, 25-8, 25-23). 

Set number one started on a rocket of a serve from the hand of Joe Horn for a service ace on Illinois Wesleyan's Vic Gomez to put the Duhawks on the board first. Each side added points early with the set tying four times before Loras pulled away on a kill from Dorian Fiorenza followed by a Titans attacking error to put the Duhawks up by two. Shortly after, another kill from Fiorenza and four straight attacking errors from Illinois Wesleyan put the Duhawks up by six to bring the score to 13-7. Later in the set, Patrick Mahoney kick started a three point scoring run, accouting for two of the three points with two kills while Fiorenza added one. The set came to a close on another Fiorenza kill that took the score to 25-18, giving Loras the set win. 

A Titans service error put the Duhawks in the lead from the get-go in the second set that was immediately followed by a Jacob Bonnett service ace again on Gomez. Loras owned the second set from start to finish, taking a 14 point lead after scoring nine straight. The nine point run was the longest scoring streak of the match by either team, seeing Andres Martinez put a kill down for a point. Fiorenza excelled at the service line for the Duhawks in the barrage, recording two service aces on Illinois Wesleyan's Michael Eastman who fell victim to Fiorenza's serve on both. Loras put five quick points up on the board to end the set, with Tyler Kratochvil scoring back to back kills followed by another ace from Bonnett. Michael Dzewior closed the door on the second set with a service ace to defeat the Titans 25-8. 

The Duhawks again found the scoreboard first in the third set on an Illinois Wesleyan attacking error. A pair of errors from the Titans soon thereafter put the Duhawks up 4-2 early, but the Titans put three straight up to take their first lead of the entire match. The score tied two times before kills from Martinez, Bonnett and David Beach added to a four point run from the Duhawks to take a 9-6 lead. Illinois Wesleyan showed their grit and held with the Duhawks in what turned out to be the highest contested set of the match. Down by one, the Titans recorded four straight on a kill from KJ Johnson and three straight errors from the Duhawks to take a two point lead at 14-12 in the set. Loras reclaimed the lead after scoring three in a row on two kills from Colin Hacker and a Titans error, but a service error put the score back even at 16-16. Dzewior jump started the Duhawks offense to give the Duhawks the lead once more that was followed up by five more points in favor of Loras, seeing Tucker Ziegenhorn record two kills in the run. With the score at 24-18, the Titans made one final push to try to force the match into four sets by scoring five in a row, but the effort came up short as the set ended on a Michael Eastman service error to end the match with a final set score of 25-23. 

Fiorenza and Bonnett both lead the match with six kills a piece, joined by Kratochvil who added four and Martinez with three. Horn, Hacker, Mahoney and Ziegenhorn each recorded two kills while Dziewior and Beach had one. Four Duhawks posted aces in the match, with Fiorenza, Horn and Bonnett each putting down two while Dziewior had one. Martinez was a brick wall defensively with six blocks on the day, while Horn and Bonnett had two. 

The Duhawks are back in action Wednesday, Mar. 10 as they travel to Naperville, Ill. to take on the No. 12 North Central College Cardinals. The match is due to begin at 7:00 PM.