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

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Feb. 13, 2022) - Closing out their weekend in the Fontbonne Invitational, the RV/No. 12 Loras College men's volleyball team (9-1, 0-0 CCIW) took on the Thunder from Trine University (4-7, 0-0 MCVL) in their third match in two days' time. The match needed five sets to settle on a victor, but the Thunder prevailed, seeing the Duhawks' win-streak end at nine matches. 

The Duhawks got on the board first in the first set of the match on a Trine error that was followed by a pair of kills from Michael Dziewior and Dorian Fiorenza to put the Duhawks up by two at 3-1. Four Thunder attacking errors and a Corey Mayotte service ace saw the Duhawks score five straight to widen their lead to six points at 10-4, and held a 13-8 lead iin the middle of the set. Loras continued to push forward through the end of the set, holding off a late-set attack from the Thunder to see Mayotte floor a kill to close out the set 25-20 in favor of the Duhawks. 

Back-to-back Thunder errors gave the Duhawks two points from the jump in the second set, but Trine came back to score three in a row to take a 4-3 lead. The lead was short lived, however, as the Duhawks outscored the Thunder 5-1 with Patrick Mahoney tallying two kills and Mayotte and Fiorenza putting down one apiece in the run to take the lead at 8-5. Through the middle of the set, the Duhawks held onto the lead, going up by five at 17-12 on a Mayotte kill, but the lead was cut to just one as the Thunder score four straight to bring the score to 17-16. The Thunder offense kick started in the end of the set as they jumped ahead 23-20 after going on a 7-2 run but a kill from Fiorenza and a Thunder error tied the score at 24-24 in the closing moments of the set. A Trine kill followed by a Duhawks attacking error solidified a 26-24 set win for Trine. 

With the score tied at one a side, Trine scored first in the third set but the score tied four times before a Mahoney kill sparked a three point run that was followed by a Mayotte ace and a Thunder attacking error to see Loras go ahead 6-4. The Duhawks pulled away by eight in the middle of the set as Tucker Ziegenhorn led the way as the Duhawks scored six in a row with Ziegenhorn accounting for three of the six with a trio of kills to bring the score to 14-6. Trine came back within three in the back half of the set but the Duhawks held on to win the set 25-20 to go up 2-1 after three. 

The fourth set saw back-to-back errors from Trine put the Duhawks up by two immediately, holding on to that lead until two straight Loras errors gave the Thunder a one-point advantage at 6-5. Both sides traded scoring in the middle of the set with the score tying five times before Trine tallied two straight to gain a two point lead. The Duhawks came back, though, on a Mayotte kill and a David Beach service ace to tie the score once more at 13-13. Trine pulled away by four at 18-14 but a Mahoney kill and two Trine errors brought the Duhawks back within one, but Trine was able to hold off the Duhawks' late-game attack to win the fourth set 25-22 and force the match into a fifth set. 

Both sides scored early in the fifth set but the Duhawks led by three at 7-4 after outscoring the Thunder 4-1 as errors plagued Trine. The Thunder's offense ignited in the final moments of the match, coming back from at 12-10 deficit to score five in a row on a pair of kills and back-to-back service aces to win the fifth 15-12 and win the match 3-2. 

Mahoney and Ziegenhorn led the charge offensively with 11 kills each while Mayotte added 10. The Duhawks tallied seven service aces in the match with Mahoney, Fiorenza and Mayotte flooring two apiece while Beach recorded one. Dziewior had a career performance at the net defensively with a solid eight blocks in the match while Fiorenza and Ziegenhorn joined with four each. At setter, Joe Horn assisted on 43 kills and libero Kevin Kessel put up 14 digs, followed by Beach with 12 and Horn with 10. 

The Duhawks are back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 15 as they open College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play in Bloomington, Ill. against the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans. The match is scheduled for a 7:00 PM start inside the Shirk Center.